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JUBILEE  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 


THE 

JUBILEE  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

A    DISCOURSE 

DBLIVEBBD     AT    THE     R K ft U B S T    OP 

THE  NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIK  I  \ 

IN    TBB    CITY    OF    MEW    YORK, 

ON  TUESDAY,  THE  30th  OF  APRIL    1839 ; 

BEING  THE  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY 

or  THE 

INAUGURATION  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

AS 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
ON  THURSDAY,  THE  30th  OF  APRIL,  1789. 


Jerit  urtorct,  quae  often  MCM/O  pronnt  -  •  •  quid  spectana,  nisi  etiam  potter*  secula 
•A  M  pertinere  1  Erjo  arboreB  Beret  dtliicens  africok,  quanim  Bd»piclet  baccam  ip«e  nuoquam  : 
»ir  uiafnuB  leges,  iostituta,  rempubiicam  ooo  Mretl 

Cnmu   Tuac.  QDABBT   1. 


BY  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY    SAMUEL    COLMAN, 
VIII    ASTOR    HOUSE. 

M  DCCC  XXXIX. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  m  the  year  1839, 

By  JOSEPH  BLUNT, 

For  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 

In  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York 


THE 


JUBILEE  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION, 

A    DISCOURSE. 


WHEN  in  the  epic  fable  of  the  first  of  Roman  Poets, 
the  Goddess  mother  of  yEneas  delivers  to  him  the  ce- 
lestial armour,  with  which  he  is  to  triumph  over  his 
enemy,  and  to  lay  the  foundations  of  Imperial  Rome, 
he  is  represented  as  gazing  with  intense  but  confused 
delight  on  the  crested  helm  that  vomits  golden  fires  — 

"  His  hands  the  fatal  sword  and  corslet  hold, 
One  keen  with  tempered  steel — one  stiff  with  gold 
He  shakes  the  pointed  spear,  and  longs  to  try 
The  plated  cuishes  on  his  manly  thigh ; 
But  most  admires  the  shield's  mysterious  mould, 
And  Roman  triumphs  rising  on  the  gold  " — 

For  on  that  shield  the  heavenly  smith  had  wrought  the 
anticipated  history  of  Roman  glory,  from  the  days  of 
jEneas  down  to  the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar,  cotempo- 
raneous  with  the  Poet  himself. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS   AND   BRETHREN,  ASSOCIATES  OF 
THE  NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  : — 

Would  it  be  an  unlicensed  trespass  of  the  imagination 
to  conceive,  that  on  the  night  preceding  the  day  of  which 
you  now  commemorate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  —  on  the 
night  preceding  that  thirtieth  of  April,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-nine,  when  from  the  balcony  of  your 
city-hall,  the  chancellor  of  the  state  of  New  York,  ad- 
ministered to  George  Washington  the  solemn  oath,  faith- 
fully to  execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  to  preserve,  protect 
and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — that  in 
the  visions  of  the  night,  the  guardian  angel  of  the  Father 
of  our  country  had  appeared  before  him,  in  the  venerated 
form  of  his  mother,  and,  to  cheer  and  encourage  him  in 
the  performance  of  the  momentous  and  solemn  duties 
that  he  was  about  to  assume,  had  delivered  to  him  a  suit 
of  celestial  armour — a  helmet,  consisting  of  the  princi- 
ples of  piety,  of  justice,  of  honour,  of  benevolence, 
with  which  from  his  earliest  infancy  he  had  hitherto 
walked  through  life,  in  the  presence  of  all  his  bieth^ 
ren — a  spear,  studded  with  the  self-evident  truths  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  —  a  sword,  the  same 
with  which  he  had  led  the  armies  of  his  country 
through  the  war  of  freedom,  to  the  summit  of  the  tri- 
umphal arch  of  independence  —  a  corslet  and  cuishes 
of  long  experience  and  habitual  intercourse  in  peace 
and  war  with  the  world  of  mankind,  his  cotemporaries 
of  the  human  race,  in  all  their  stages  of  civilization — 
&nd  last  of  all,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 


&   SHIELD   embossed  by  heavenly  hands,  with  the 
future  history  of  his  country. 

Yes,  gentlemen!  on  that  shield,  the  CONSTITU- 
TION OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  was  sculp- 
tured,(by  forms  unseen,  and  in  characters  then  invisible 
to  mortal  eye,)  the  predestined  and  prophetic  history 
of  the  one  confederated  people  of  the  North  American 
Union. 

They  had  been  the  settlers  of  thirteen  separate  and 
distinct  English  colonies,  along  the  margin  of  the 
shore  of  the  North  American  continent :  contiguously 
situated,  but  chartered  by  adventurers  of  characters 
variously  diversified,  including  sectarians,  religious  and 
political,  of  all  the  classes  which  for  the  two  preceding 
centuries  had  agitated  and  divided  the  people  of  the 
British  islands — and  with  them  were  intermingled 
the  descendants  of  Hollanders,  Swedes,  Germans,  and 
French  fugitives  from  the  persecution  of  the  revoker  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

In  the  bosoms  of  this  people,  thus  heterogeneously 
composed,  there  was  burning,  kindled  at  different  fur- 
naces, but  all  furnaces  of  affliction,  one  clear,  steady 
flame  of  LIBERTY.  Bold  and  daring  enterprise, 
stubborn  endurance  of  privation,  unflinching  intrepid- 
ity in  facing  danger,  and  inflexible  adherence  to  con- 
scientious principle,  had  steeled  to  energetic  and  un- 
yielding hardihood  the  characters  of  the  primitive  set- 
tlers of  all  these  Colonies.  Since  that  time  two  or 
three  generations  of  men  had  passed  away — but  they 
had  increased  and  multiplied  with  unexampled  rapid- 


8 

ity ;  and  the  land  itself  had  been  the  recent  theatre  of 
a  ferocious  and  bloody  seven  years'  war  between  the 
two  most  powerful  and  most  civilized  nations  of  Eu- 
rope, contending  for  the  possession  of  this  continent. 

Of  that  strife  the  victorious  combatant  had  been 
Britain.  She  had  conquered  the  provinces  of  France. 
She  had  expelled  her  rival  totally  from  the  continent 
over  which,  bounding  herself  by  the  Mississippi,  she 
was  thenceforth  to  hold  divided  empire  only  with 
Spain.  She  had  acquired  undisputed  control  over  the 
Indian  tribes,  still  tenanting  the  forests  unexplored  by 
the  European  man.  She  had  established  an  uncon- 
tested  monopoly  of  the  commerce  of  all  her  colonies. 
But  forgetting  all  the  warnings  of  preceding  ages — for- 
getting the  lessons  written  in  the  blood  of  her  own 
children,  through  centuries  of  departed  time,  she  un- 
dertook to  tax  the  people  of  the  colonies  without  their 
consent. 

Resistance,  instantaneous,  unconcerted,  sympathetic, 
inflexible  resistance  like  an  electric  shock  startled  and 
roused  the  people  of  all  the  English  colonies  on  this 
continent. 

This  was  the  first  signal  of  the  North  American 
Union.  The  struggle  was  for  chartered  rights — for 
English  liberties — for  the  cause  of  Algernon  Sidney 
and  John  Hampden — for  trial  by  jury — the  Habeas 
Corpus  and  Magna  Charta. 

But  the  English  lawyers  had  decided  that  Parliament 
was  omnipotent — and  Parliament  in  their  omnipotence, 
instead  of  trial  by  jury  and  the  Habeas  Corpus,  enact- 


ed  admiralty  courts  in  England  to  try  Americans  for 
offences  charged  against  them  as  committed  in  Amer- 
ica—  instead  of  the  privileges  of  Magna  Charfci. 
lified  the  charter  itself  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ;  shut  up 
the  port  of  Boston ;  sent  armies  and  navies  to 
the  peace,  and  teach  the  colonies  tfeat  John   I 

s  a  rebel,  and  Algernon  Sidney  a  traitor. 

English  liberties  had  failed  them.  From  the  omnip- 
otence of  Parliament  the  colonists  appealed  to  thr 
rights  of  man  and  the  omuipotenre  of  the  God  of  bat- 
tles. Union  !  Union  !  was  the  instinctive  and  simulta- 
neous cry  throughout  the  land.  Their  Congress,  as- 
sembled at  Philadelphia,  once — twice  had  petitioned  the 
king ;  had  remonstrated  to  Parliament ;  had  iflJrcootd 
the  people  of  Britain,  for  the  rights  of  Englishmen  — 
in  vain.  Fleets  and  armies,  the  blood  of  Lexington, 
and  the  fires  of  Charlestown  arnl  Fahnouth,  had  been 
the  answer  to  petition,  remonstrance  and  add  rets. 

Independence  was  declared.  The  colonies  were 
transformed  into  States.  Their  inhabitants  were  pro- 
claimed to  be  one  people,  renouncing  all  allegiance  to 
the  British  crown ;  all  co-patriotism  with  the  British 
nation ;  all  claims  to  chartered  rights  as  Englishmen. 
Thenceforth  their  charter  was  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Their  rights,  the  natural  rights  of  mankind. 
Their  government,  such  as  should  be  instituted  by 
themselves,  under  the  solemn  Ynutnal  pledges  of  perpet- 
ual union,  founded  on  the  self-evi..l?nt  truths  proclaim- 
ed in  the  Declaration. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  issued,  in  the 


10 

excruciating  agonies  of  a  civil  war,  and  by  that  war 
independence  was  to  be  maintained.  Six  long  years  it 
raged  with  unabated  fury,  and  the  Union  was  yet  no 
more  than  a  mutual  pledge  of  faith,  and  a  mutual  par- 
ticipation of  common  sufferings  and  common  dangers. 

The  omnipotence  of  the  British  Parliament  was  van- 
quished. The  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  was  not  granted,  but  recognised.  The  na- 
tion had  "  assumed  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the 
separate  and  equal  station,  to  which  the  laws  of  na- 
ture, and  of  nature's  God,  entitled  it" — but  the  one, 
united  people,  had  yet  NO  GOVERNMENT. 

In  the  enthusiasm  of  their  first  spontaneous,  unstip- 
ulated,  unpremeditated  union,  they  had  flattered  them- 
selves that  no  general  government  would  be  required. 
As  separate  states  they  were  all  agreed  that  they 
should  constitute  and  govern  themselves.  The  revolu- 
tion under  which  they  were  gasping  for  life,  the  war 
which  was  carrying  desolation  into  all  their  dwellings, 
and  mourning  into  every  family,  had  been  kindled  by 
the  abuse  of  powder — the  power  of  government.  An 
invincible  repugnance  to  the  delegation  of  power,  had 
thus  been  generated,  by  the  very  course  of  events 
which  had  rendered  it  necessary ;  and  the  more  indis- 
pensable it  became,  the  more  awakened  was  the  jeal- 
ousy and  the  more  intense  was  the  distrust  by  which  it 
was  to  be  circumscribed. 

They  relaxed  their  union  into  a  league  of  friendship 
between  sovereign  and  independent  states.  They  con- 
stituted a  Congress,  with  powers  co-extensive  with  the 


11 

nation,  but  so  hedged  and  hemmed  in  with  restrictions, 
that  the  limitation  seemed  to  be  the  general  rule,  and 
the  grant  the  occasional  exception.  The  articles  of 
confederation,  subjected  to  philosophical  analysis,  seem 
to  be  little  more  than  an  enumeration  of  the  functions 
of  a  national  government  which  the  congress  constitu- 
ted by  the  instrument  was  not  authorized  to  perform. 
There  was  avowedly  no  executive  power. 

The  nation  fell  into  an  atrophy.  The  Union  lan- 
guished to  the  point  of  death.  A  torpid  numbness 
seized  upon  all  its  faculties.  A  chilling  cold  indiffer- 
ence crept  from  its  extremities  to  the  centre.  The  sys- 
tem was  about  to  dissolve  in  its  own  imbecility — im- 
potence in  negotiation  abroad — domestic  insurrection 
at  home,  were  on  the  point  of  bearing  to  a  dishonour- 
able grave  the  proclamation  of  a  government  founded 
on  the  rights  of  man,  when  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  eleven  of  the  thirteen  states,  with  George  Wash- 
ington at  theu:  head,  sent  forth  to  the  people,  an  act  to 
be  made  their  own,  speaking  in  their  name  and  in  the 
first  person,  thus :  "  We  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish 
justice,  ensure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  for  the 
common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for 
the  United  States  of  America." 

This  act  was  the  complement  to  the  Declaration  of 
Independence ;  founded  upon  the  same  principles,  car- 
rying them  out  into  practical  execution,  and  forming 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


with  it,  one  entire  system  of  national  government.  The 
Declaration  was  a  manifesto  to  the  world  of  mankind, 
to  justify  the  one  confederated  people,  for  the  violent 
and  voluntary  severance  of  the  ties  of  their  allegiance, 
for  the  renunciation  of  their  country,  and  for  assuming  a 
station  themselves,  among  the  potentates  of  the  world — 
a  self-constituted  sovereign — a  self-constituted  country. 
In  the  history  of  the  human  race  this  had  never  been 
done  before.  Monarchs  had  been  dethroned  for  tyranny 
— kingdoms  converted  into  republics,  and  revolted  prov- 
inces had  assumed  the  attributes  of  sovereign  power. 
In  the  history  of  England  itself,  within  one  century  and 
a  half  before  the  day  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, one  lawful  king  had  been  brought  to  the  block, 
and  another  expelled,  with  all  his  posterity,  from  his 
own  kingdom,  and  a  collateral  dynasty  had  ascended 
his  throne.  But  the  former  of  these  revolutions  had  by 
the  deliberate  and  final  sentence  of  the  nation  itself, 
been  pronounced  a  rebellion,  and  the  rightful  heir  of  the 
executed  king  had  been  restored  to  the  crown.  In  the 
latter,  at  the  first  onset,  the  royal  recreant  had  fled — he 
was  held  to  have  abdicated  the  crown,  and  it  was  placed 
upon  the  heads  of  his  daughter  and  of  her  husband,  the 
prime  leader  of  the  conspiracy  against  him.  In  these 
events  there  had  been  much  controversy  upon  the  plat- 
form of  English  liberties — upon  the  customs  of  the 
ancient  Britons;  the  laws  of  Alfred,  the  Witena- 
gamote  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  the  Great  Charter  of 
Runnymede  with  all  its  numberless  confirmations.  But 
the  actors  of  those  times  had  never  ascended  to  the  first 


13 

foundation  of  civil  society  among  men,  nor  had  any 
revolutionary  system  of  government  been  rested  upon 
them. 

The  motive  for  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  on 
its  face  avowed  to  be  "a  decent  respect  for  the  opinions 
of  mankind."  Its  purpose  to  declare  the  causes  which 
impelled  the  people  of  the  English  colonies  on  the  conti- 
nent of  North  America,  to  separate  themselves  from  the 
political  community  of  the  British  nation.  They  declare 
only  the  causes  of  their  separation,  but  they  announce 
at  the  same  time  their  assumption  of  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  na- 
ture's God  entitle  them,  among  the  powers  of  the 
earth. 

Thus  their  first  movement  is  to  recognise  and  appeal 
to  the  laws  of  nature  and  to  nature's  God,  for  their  right 
to  assume  the  attributes  of  sovereign  power  as  an  inde- 
pendent nation. 

The  causes  of  their  necessary  separation,  for  they 
begin  and  end  by  declaring  it  necessary,  alleged  in  the 
Declaration,  are  all  founded  on  the  same  laws  of  nature 
and  of  nature's  God  —  and  hence  as  preliminary  to  the 
enumeration  of  the  causes  of  separation,  they  set  forth 
as  self-evident  truths,  the  rights  of  individual  man,  by  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God,  to  life,  to  liberty,  to 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  all  men  are  created 
equal  That  to  secure  the  rights  of  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuits  of  happiness,  governments  are  instituted  among 
men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  All  this,  is  by  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  na- 


14 


tare's  God,  and  of  course  presupposes  the  existence  of 
a  God,  the  moral  ruler  of  the  universe,  and  a  rule  of 
right  and  wrong,  of  just  and  unjust,  binding  upon  man, 
preceding  all  institutions  of  human  society  and  of  govern- 
ment. It  avers,  also,  that  governments  are  instituted  to 
secure  these  rights  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God,  and 
that  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destruc- 
tive of  those  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  THE  PEOPLE  to 
alter,  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government 
— to  throw  off  a  government  degenerating  into  despotism, 
and  to  provide  new  guards  for  their  future  security. 
They  proceed  then  to  say  that  such  was  then  the  situa- 
tion of  the  Colonies,  and  such  the  necessity  which  con- 
strained them  to  alter  their  former  systems  of  govern- 
ment. 

Then  follows  the  enumeration  of  the  acts  of  tyranny 
by  which  the  king,  parliament,  and  people  of  Great 
Britain,  had  perverted  the  powers  to  the  destruction  of 
the  ends  of  government,  over  the  Colonies,  and  the  con- 
sequent necessity  constraining  the  Colonies  to  the  separ- 
ation. 

In  conclusion,  the  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  general  Congress  assembled,  ap 
pealing  to  the  Supreme  judge  of  the  world  for  the  rec- 
titude of  their  intentions,  do,  in  the  name  and  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  good  people  of  these  Colonies,  solemnly  pub- 
lish and  declare  that  these  United  Colonies,  are,  and  of 
right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States ;  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown; 
and  that  all  political  connexion  between  them  and  the 


15 

state  of  Great  Britain,  is,  and  ought  to  be  totally  dis- 
solved ;  and  that  as  free  and  independent  States,  they 
have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract 
alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts 
and  things  which  independent  States  may  of  right  do. 
The  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world,  and  the 
rule  of  right  and  wrong  as  paramount  events  to  the 
power  of  independent  States,  are  here  again  repeated 
in  the  very  act  of  constituting  a  new  sovereign  com- 
munity. 

It  is  not  immaterial  to  remark,  that  the  Signers  of  the 
Declaration,  though  qualifying  themselves  as  the  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  general 
Congress  assembled,  yet  issue  the  Declaration,  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  the  Col- 
onies —  and  that  they  declare,  not  each  of  the  separate 
Colonies,  but  the  United  Colonies,  free  and  independent 
States.  The  whole  people  declared  the  Colonies  in 
their  united  condition,  of  RIGHT,  free  and  independent 
States. 

The  dissolution  of  allegiance  to  the  British  crown, 
the  severance  of  the  Colonies  from  the  British  empire, 
and  their  actual  existence  as  Independent  States,  thus 
declared  of  right,  were  definitively  established  in  fact, 
by  war  and  peace.  The  independence  of  each  separate 
State  had  never  been  declared  of  right.  It  never  existed 
in  fact.  Upon  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, the  dissolution  of  the  ties  of  allegiance, 
the  assumption  of  sovereign  power,  and  the  institution 
of  civil  government,  are  all  acts  of  transcendant  author- 


16 

ity,  which  the  people  alone  ai;e  competent  to  perform  — 
and  accordingly,  it  is  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  people,  that  two  of  these  acts  — the  dissolution  of 
allegiance,  with  the  severance  from  the  British  empire, 
and  the  declaration  of  the  United  Colonies,  as  free  and 
independent  States,  were  performed  by  that  instru- 
ment. 

But  there  still  remained  the  last  and  crowning  act, 
which  the  People  of  the  Union  alone  were  competent  to 
perform — the  institution  of  civil  government,  for  that 
compound  nation,  the  United  States  of  America. 

At  this  day  it  cannot  but  strike  us  as  extraordinary, 
that  it  does  not  appear  to  have  occurred  to  any  one 
member  of  that  assembly,  which  had  laid  down  in  terms 
so  clear,  so  explicit,  so  unequivocal,  the  foundation  of 
all  just  government,  in  the  imprescriptible  rights  of  man, 
and  the  transcendant  sovereignty  of  the  people,    and 
who  in  those  principles,  had  set  forth  their  only  per- 
sonal vindication  from  the  charges  of  rebellion  against 
their  king,  and  of  treason  to  their  country,  that  their  last 
crowning  act  was  still  to  be  performed  upon  the  same 
principles.      That  is,  the  institution,  by  the  people   of 
the  United  States,  of  a  civil  government,  to  guard  and 
protect  and  defend  them  all.      On  the  contrary,  that 
same  assembly  which  issued  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, instead  of  continuing  to  act  in  the  name,  and 
by   the   authority   of  the  good  people   of  the  United 
States,  had  immediately  after  the  appointment  of  the 
committee  to  prepare  the  Declaration,  appointed  another 
committee,  of  one  member  from  each  Colony,  to  pre- 


pare  and  digest  the  form  of  confederation,  to  be  entered 
into  between  the  Colonies. 

That  committee  reported  on  the  12th  of  July,  eight 
days  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  been 
issued,  a  draught  of  articles  of  confederation  between 
the  Colonies.  This  draught  was  prepared  by  John  Dick- 
inson, then  a  delegate  from  Pennsylvania,  who  voted 
against  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  never 
signed  it — having  been  superseded  by  a  new  election 
of  delegates  from  that  State,  eight  days  after  his 
draught  was  reported. 

There  was  thus  no  congeniality  of  principle  betv 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Articles  of 
Confederation.  The  foundation  of  the  former  were  a 
superintending  Providence  —  the  rights  of  man,  and  the 
constituent  revolutionary  power  of  the  people.  Tl  i 
the  latter  was  the  sovereignty  of  organized  power,  and  the 
independence  of  the  separate  or  dis-united  States.  The 
fabric  of  the  Declaration  and  that  of  the  Confederation, 
were  each  consistent  with  its  own  foundation,  but  they 
could  not  form  one  consistent  symmetrical  edifice. 
They  were  the  productions  of  different  minds  and  of 
adverse  passions — one,  ascending  for  the  foundation  of 
human  government  to  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  God, 
written  upon  the  heart  of  man  —  the  other,  resting  upon 
the  basis  of  human  institutions,  and  prescriptive  law  and 
colonial  charters.  The  corner  stone  of  the  one  was 
right  —  that  of  the  other  was  power. 

The  work  of  the  founders  of  our  Independence  was 
thus  but  half  done.  Absorbed  in  that  more  than  Her- 


18 

culean  task  of  maintaining  that  independence  and  its 
principles,  by  one  of  the  most  cruel  wars  that  ever 
glutted  the  furies  with  human  wo,  they  marched  un- 
daunted and  steadfast  through  that  fiery  ordeal,  and 
consistent  in  their  principles  to  the  end,  concluded,  as 
an  acknowledged  sovereignty  of  the  United  States,  pro- 
claimed by  their  people  in  1776,  a  peace  with  that  same 
monarch,  whose  sovereignty  over  them  they  had  abjured 
in  obedience  to  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God. 

But  for  these  United  States,  they  had  formed  no 
Constitution.  Instead  of  resorting  to  the  source  of  all 
constituted  power,  they  had  wasted  their  time,  their 
talents,  and  their  persevering,  untiring  toils,  in  erecting 
and  roofing  and  buttressing  a  frail  and  temporary  shed 
to  shelter  the  nation  from  the  storm,  or  rather  a  mere 
baseless  scaffolding  on  which  to  stand,  when  they  should 
raise  the  marble  palace  of  the  people,  to  stand  the  test 
of  time. 

Five  years  were  consumed  by  Congress  and  the 
State  Legislatures,  in  debating  and  altercating  and  ad- 
justing these  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  first  of 
which  was : — 

"  Each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom  and  in- 
dependence, and  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right, 
which  is  not  by  this  confederation  expressly  delegated 
to  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled." 

Observe  the  departure  from  the  language,  and  the 
consequent  contrast  of  principles,  with  those  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

Each  state  RETAINS  its  sovereignty,  &c.  —  where 


19 

did  each  State  get  the  sovereignty  which  it  retains? 
In  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  delegates  of 
the  Colonies  in  Congress  assembled,  in  the  name  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  tJie  Colonies,  declare, 
not  each  Colony,  but  the  United  Colonies,  in  fact,  and 
of  right,  not  sovereign,  but  free  and  independent  States. 
And  why  did  they  make  this  declaration  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  one  people  of  all  the  Colo- 
nies ?  Because  by  the  principles  before  laid  down  in 
the  Declaration,  the  people,  and  the  people  alone,  as  the 
rightful  source  of  all  legitimate  government,  were  com- 
petent to  dissolve  the  bands  of  subjection  of  all  the  Col- 
onies to  the  nation  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  constitute 
them  free  and  independent  States.  Now  the  people  of 
the  Colonies,  speaking  by  their  delegates  in  Congress, 
had  not  declared  each  Colony  a  sovereign,  free  and  inde- 
pendent State  —  nor  had  the  people  of  each  Colony  so 
declared  the  Colony  itself,  nor  could  they  so  declare  it, 
because  each  was  already  bound  in  union  with  all  the 
rest;  a  union  formed  de  facto,  by  the  spontaneous 
revolutionary  movement  of  the  whole  people,  and  or- 
ganized by  the  meeting  of  the  first  Congress,  in  1774,  a 
year  and  ten  months  before  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

Where,  then,  did  each  State  get  the  sovereignty, 
freedom  and  independence,  which  the  articles  of  con- 
federation declare  it  retains  ?  —  not  from  the  whole  peo- 
ple of  the  whole  union — not  from  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  —  not  from  the  people  of  the  state  itself. 
It  was  assumed  by  agreement  between  the  legislatures 


20 

of  the  several  States,  and  their  delegates  in  Congress, 
without  authority  from  or  consultation  of  the  people  at  all 

In  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  enacting  and 
constituent  party  dispensing  arid  delegating  sovereign 
power,  is  the  whole  people  of  the  United  Colonies.  The 
recipient  party,  invested  with  power,  is  the  United  Col- 
onies, declared  United  States. 

In  the  articles  of  confederation,  this  order  of  agency 
is  inverted.  Each  state  is  the  constituent  and  enacting 
party,  and  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
the  recipient  of  delegated  power — and  that  power,  del- 
gated  with  such  a  penurious  and  carking  hand,  that  it 
had  more  the  aspect  of  a  revocation  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  than  an  instrument  to  carry  it  into 
effect. 

It  well  deserves  the  judicious  inquiry  of  an  American 
statesman,  at  this  time,  how  this  involuntary  and  un- 
conscious usurpation  upon  the  rights  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  originated  and  was  pursued  to  its 
consummation. 

In  July,  1775,  soon  after  the  meeting  of  the  second 
revolutionary  Congress,  and  a  year  before  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  Dr.  Franklin  had  submitted  to 
their  consideration,  a  sketch  of  articles  of  confederation 
between  the  colonies,  to  continue  until  their  reconcilia- 
tion with  Great  Britain,  and  in  failure  of  that  event,  to 
be  perpetual. 

The  third  article  of  that  project  provided  u  that  each 
colony  shall  enjoy  and  retain  as  much  as  it  may  think  fit, 
of  its  own  present  laws,  customs,  rights,  privileges,  and 


21 

peculiar  jurisdictions  within  its  o?v?i  limits ;  and  may 
amend  its  own  constitution,  as  shall  seem  best  to  its 
own  assembly  or  convention."  Here  was  and  could  be 
no  assertion  of  sovereignty. 

This  plan  appears  to  have  been  never  discussed  in 
Congress.  But  when,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1776,  the  res- 
olution of  independence  was  offered  and  postponed, 
another  resolution  was  submitted  and  carried  for  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  of  one  member  from  each 
colony,  to  prepare  and  digest  a  form  of  a  confederation. 

The  third  article  of  the  draught  reported  by  that 
committee,  was  in  these  words : — 

"  Each  colony  shall  retain  as  much  of  its  present  laws, 
rights,  and  customs,  as  it  may  think  fit,  and  reserve  to 
itself  the  sole  and  exclusive  regulation  and  government 
of  its  internal  police,  in  all  matters  tJiat  shall  not  inter- 
fere with  the  articles  of  this  confederation" 

The  first  article  had  declared  the  name  of  the  confed- 
eracy to  be  the  United  States  of  America, 

By  the  second,  the  colonies  "unite  themselves,  so  as 
never  to  be  divided  by  any  act  whatever,"  and  entered 
into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  with  each  other. 

From  the  12th  of  July  to  the  20th  of  August,  1776, 
the  report  of  the  committee  was  debated  almost  daily, 
in  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  and  they  reported 
to  Congress  a  new  draught,  the  first  article  of  which 
retained  the  name  of  the  confederacy. 

The  second  left  out  the  warm-hearted  Union,  so  as 
never  to  be  divided  by  any  act  whatever,  and  only 
severally  entered  into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  for 


22 

special  purposes.  By  the  third,  "  Each  state  reserves 
to  itself  the  sole  and  exclusive  regulations  and  govern- 
ment of  its  internal  police  in  all  matters  that  shall  not 
interfere  with  the  Articles  of  this  Confederation}1 

The  gradual  relaxation  of  the  fervid  spirit  of  union 
which  had  quickened  every  sentence  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  is  apparent  in  these  changes  of 
phraseology  and  omission.  # 

The  articles  reported  by  the  committee  of  the  whole 
were  laid  aside  on  the  20th  of  August,  1776,  and  were 
not  resumed  till  the  7th  of  April,  1777. 

They  were  then  taken  up,  and  pertinaciously  and 
acrimoniously  debated  two  or  three  times  a  wreek  till 
the  15th  of  November,  1777,  when  they  were  adopted 
by  Congress  in  a  new  and  revised  draught. 

And  here  the  reversal  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  complete,  and 
the  symptoms  of  disunion  proportionally  aggravated. 
The  first  article  instead  of  the  name  declared  the  style 
of  the  confederacy  to  be  the  United  States  of  America. 
Even  in  this  change  of  a  single  word,  there  was  the 
spirit  of  disunion  ;  a  name  being  appropriately  applied 
to  the  unity,  and  a  style  to  the  plurality  of  the  aggre- 
gate body. 

An  alteration  still  more  significant  was  the  inversion 
in  the  order  of  the  second  and  third  articles.  In  all 
the  former  draughts,  in  the  sketch  presented  by  Dr. 
Franklin  in  1775,  in  the  draught  reported  by  the  select 
committee  in  July,  1776,  and  in  that  reported  after  full 
debate  by  the  committee  of  the  whole  house  to  Con- 


23 

gress,  on  the  20th  of  August,  1776,  the  union  had  been 
constituted  in  the  second  article,  and  the  reservation  of 
separate  rights  not  interfering  with  the  articles  of  the 
confederation,  had  been  made  in  the  third. 

But  now  the  reservation  of  separate  rights  came  first 
in  order,  appeared  as  the  second  article,  and  instead  of 
being  confined  to  internal  police,  and  all  matters  that 
shall  not  interfere  with  the  articles  of  this  confedera- 
tion, was  transformed  into  a  direct  assertion  of  sover- 
eignty, not  in  the  people  of  each  state,  but  in  each 
state.  And  thus  it  was  that  each  state  had  acquired 
that  sovereignty,  which  the  third  article,  now  made  the 
second,  declared  it  retained.  It  was  a  power  usurped 
upon  the  people,  by  the  joint  agency  of  the  state  legis- 
latures and  of  their  delegates  in  Congress,  without  any 
authority  from  the  people  whatever.  And  with  this 
assertion  of  sovereignty,  each  state  retained  also  every 
power,  jurisdiction  and  right,  not  by  the  confederation 
expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled. And  then  came  limping  on  in  the  third  arti- 
cle, degraded  from  its  place  as  the  second,  the  firm 
league  of  friendship  of  these  several  states  with  each 
other,  for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of  their 
liberties,  and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare. 

In  the  debates  upon  these  articles  of  confederation, 
between  the  7th  of  October,  and  the  17th  of  Novem- 
ber, the  conflict  of  interests  and  of  principles  between 
the  people  of  the  whole  Union,  and  each  of  the  states, 
was  strongly  marked.  The  first  question  was  upon 
the  mode  of  voting  in  Congress 


24 

It  was  moved  that  in  determining  questions,  each 
state  should  have  one  vote  for  every  fifty  thousand 
white  inhabitants. 

That  each  state  should  have  a  right  to  send  one  del- 
egate to  Congress  for  every  thirty  thousand  of  its  in- 
habitants—  each  delegate  to  have  one  vote. 

That  the  quantum  of  representation  of  each  state 
should  be  computed  by  numbers  proportioned  to  its 
contribution  of  money  or  tax  laid  and  paid  into  the 
public  treasury. 

These  propositions,  all  looking  to  a  representation 
proportional  to  numbers  or  to  taxation,  that  is,  to  per- 
sons or  property,  were  all  rejected,  and  it  was  resolved 
that  in  determining  questions  each  state  should  have 
one  vote. 

Then  came  the  question  of  the  common  charges  and 
expenses.  The  first  proposition  was  that  they  should 
be  proportioned  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  each 
state.  Then  to  the  value  of  all  property,  excepting 
household  goods  and  wearing  apparel,  both  of  which 
were  rejected,  and  the  proposition  was  fixed  according 
to  the  quantity  of  land  granted  and  surveyed,  with  the 
estimated  improvements  thereon. 

But  the  great  and  insurmountable  difficulty,  left  alto- 
gether unadjusted  by  these  articles  of  confederation, 
was  to  ascertain  the  boundaries  of  each  of  these  sov- 
ereign states.  It  was  proposed  that  these  boundaries 
should  be  ascertained  by  them ;  for  which  purpose  the 
state  Legislatures  should  lay  before  Congress  a  de- 
scription of  the  territorial  lands  of  each  of  their  respect- 


25 

ive  states,  and  a  summary  of  the  grants,  treaties,  and 
proofs,  upon  which  they  were  claimed  or  established. 

It  was  moved  that  the  United  States,  in  Congress 
assembled,  should  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right 
and  power  to  ascertain  and  fix  the  western  boundary  of 
such  states  as  claimed  to  the  South  sea ;  and  to  dis- 
pose of  all  land  beyond  the  boundary  so  ascertained, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States. 

And  that  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
should  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  to 
ascertain  and  fix  the  western  boundary  of  such  states, 
as  claimed  to  the  Mississippi  or  South  sea,  and  to  lay 
out  the  land  beyond  the  boundary  so  ascertained,  into 
separate  and  independent  states,  from  time  to  time,  as 
the  numbers  and  circumstances  of  the  people  might  re- 
quire. 

All  these  propositions  were  rejected,  and  the  articles 
of  confederation  were  sent  forth  to  the  sovereign,  free 
and  independent  states  for  ratification,  without  defining 
or  ascertaining  the  limits  of  any  one  of  them ;  while 
some  of  them  claimed  to  the  South  sea,  and  others 
were  cramped  up  within  a  surface  of  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  square  miles. 

It  is  further  remarkable  that  in  the  progress  of  these 
debates,  the  institution  of  an  executive  council,  which 
in  all  the  previous  draughts  had  been  proposed,  was 
struck  out,  and  instead  of  it  was  substituted  a  helpless 
and  imbecile  committee  of  the  states,  never  but  once 
attempted  to  be  carried  into  execution,  and  then  speed- 
ily dissolved  in  its  own  weakness. 

4 


Such  was  the  system,  elaborated  with  great,  perse- 
vering, and  anxious  deliberation  ;  animated  with  the 
most  ardent  patriotism;  put  together  with  eminent 
ability  and  untiring  industry,  but  vitiated  by  a  defect 
in  the  general  principle  —  in  the  departure  from  the  self- 
evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  the 
natural  rights  of  man,  and  the  exclusive,  sovereign, 
constituent  right  of  the  people. 

The  result  corresponded  with  this  elementary  error. 
The  plan  of  confederacy  was  sent  forth  to  the  state 
Legislatures  with  an  eloquent  and  pathetic  letter, 
pointing  out  the  difficulties  and  delays  which  had  at- 
tended its  formation,  urging  them  candidly  to  review 
the  difficulty  of  combining  in  one  general  system  the 
various  sentiments  and  interests  of  a  continent  divided 
into  so  many  sovereign  and  independent  communities. 
Assuring  them  that  the  plan  proposed  was  the  best 
which  could  be  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  all, 
and  that  alone  \vhich  afforded  any  tolerable  prospect 
of  general  ratification  ;  and  urging  its  immediate  adop- 
tion in  the  following  deeply  affecting  and  impressive 
admonition : — 

"We  have  reason  to  regret  the  time  which  has  elapsed 
in  preparing  this  plan  for  consideration.  With  addi- 
tional solicitude  we  look  forward  to  that  which  must 
be  necessarily  spent  before  it  can  be  ratified.  Every 
motive  loudly  calls  upon  us  to  hasten  its  conclusion. 

<4  More  than  any  other  consideration,  it  will  confound 
our  foreign  enemies,  defeat  the  flagitious  practices  cl 
the  disaffected,  strengthen  and  confirm  our  friends,  sup 


27 

port  our  public  credit,  restore  the  value  of  our  money, 
enable  us  to  maintain  our  fleets  and  armies,  and  add 
weight  and  respect  to  our  councils  at  home,  and  to 
our  treaties  abroad. 

"In  short,  this  salutary  measure  can  no  longer  be 
deferred.  It  seems  essential  to  our  very  existence  as 
a  free  people  ;  and  without  it  we  may  soon  be  con- 
strained to  bid  adieu  to  independence,  to  liberty  and 
safety — blessings  which  from  the  justice  of  our  cause, 
and  the  favour  of  our  Almighty  Creator,  visibly  mani- 
fested in  our  protection,  we  have  reason  to  expect,  if 
in  an  humble  dependence  on  his  divine  providence,  we 
stirnuously  exert  the  means  which  are  placed  in  our 
power." 

In  this  solemn,  urgent,  and  emphatic  manner,  and 
with  these  flattering  and  sanguine  anticipations  of  the 
blessings  to  be  showered  upon  their  country  by  this 
cumbrous  and  complicated  confederacy  of  sovereign 
and  independent  states,  was  this  instrument  transmitted 
to  the  state  Legislatures;  and  so  anxious  were  the 
framers  of  it  for  the  sanction  of  the  states  at  the  ear- 
liest possible  moment,  that  it  was  recommended  to  the 
executive  of  each  of  the  states  to  whom  it  was  ad- 
dressed, if  the  Legislature  was  not  assembled  at  the 
time  of  its  reception,  to  convene  them  without  delay. 

Not  such  however  was  the  disposition  of  the  several 
state  Legislatures.  Each  of  them  was  governed  as  it 
naturally  and  necessarily  must  be  by  the  interests  and 
opinions  predominating  within  the  state  itself.  Not 
one  of  them  was  satisfied  with  the  articles  as  they  had 


28 

been  prepared  in  Congress.  ,  Every  state  Legislature 
found  something  objectionable  in  them.  They  com- 
bined the  enormous  inconsistency  of  an  equal  repre- 
sentation in  Congress  of  states  most  unequal  in  extent 
and  population,  and  an  imposition  of  all  charges,  and 
expenses  of  the  whole,  proportioned  to  the  extent  and 
value  of  the  settled  and  cultivated  lands  in  each.  A 
still  more  vital  defect  of  the  instrument  was  that  it  left 
the  questions  of  the  limits  of  the  several  states  and  in 
whom  was  the  property  of  the  unsettled  crown-lands, 
not  only  unadjusted,  but  wholly  unnoticed. 

The  form  of  ratification  proposed  by  Congress,  was 
that  each  of  the  state  Legislatures  should  authorize 
their  delegates  in  Congress  to  subscribe  the  Articles ; 
and  in  their  impatience  for  a  speedy  conclusion,  two 
motions  were  made  to  recommend  that  the  states  should 
enjoin  upon  their  delegates  invested  with  this  author- 
ity, to  attend  Congress  for  that  purpose,  on  or  before 
the  then  ensuing  first  of  May  or  tenth  of  March. 

These  however  did  not  prevail.  This  extreme 
anxiety  for  the  prompt  and  decisive  action  of  the 
states,  upon  this  organization  of  the  confederacy,  was 
the  result  of  that  same  ardent  and  confiding  patriotism 
so  unforeseeing,  and  yet  so  sincere,  which  could  flatter 
itself  with  the  belief  that  this  nerveless  and  rickety 
league  of  friendship  between  sovereign,  independent, 
disunited  states,  could  confound  the  foreign  enemies  of 
the  Union,  defeat  the  practices  of  the  disaffected,  sup- 
port the  credit  of  the  country,  restore  the  value  of 
their  depreciating  money,  enable  them  to  maintain 


29 

fleets  and  armies,  and  add  weight  and  respect  to  their 
counsels  at  home,  and  to  their  treaties  abroad. 

This  fervid  patriotism,  and  all  these  glowing  antici- 
pations were  doomed  to  total  disappointment.  Seven 
months  passed  away,  and  on  the  22d  of  June,  1??^. 
Congress  proceeded  to  consider  the  objections  of  the 
states  to  the  articles  of  confederation.  Those  of 
Maryland  were  first  discussed  and  rejected.  Those  of 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  South  Carolina,  fol- 
lowed, and  all  shared  the  same  fate.  No  objections 
were  presented  by  New  Hampshire  or  Virginia.  Del- 
aware and  North  Carolina  had  no  representation  then 
present,  and  Georgia  only  one  member  in  attendance. 

On  the  9th  of  July,  1778,  the  Articles  were  signed  by 
the  delegates  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  bay, 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Virginia  and  South  Carolina. 

The  delegates  from  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and 
Maryland,  informed  Congress  that  they  had  not  yet  re- 
ceived powers  to  ratify  and  sign.  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia  were  not  represented — and  the  ratification  of 
New  York  was  conditional  that  all  the  other  states 
should  ratify. 

The  delegates  from  North  Carolina  signed  the  Arti- 
cles on  the  21st  of  July,  1778.  Those  of  Georgia  on 
the  24th  of  the  same  month.  Those  of  New  Jersey 
(in  the  26th  of  November,  1778.  Those  of  Delaware 
on  the  22d  of  February,  and  5th  of  May,  1779 — but 
Maryland  held  out  to  the  last,  and  positively  refused 


30 

the  ntifi cation,  until  the  question  of  the  conflicting 
claims  of  the  Union,  and  of  the  separate  states  to  the 
property  of  the  crown-lands  should  be  adjusted.  This 
was  finally  accomplished  by  cessions  from  the  claiming 
states  to  the  United  States,  of  the  unsettled  lands,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  whole  Union. 

Is  it  not  strange  again  that  it  appears  not  to  have 
been  perceived  by  any  one  at  that  time  that  the  whole 
of  this  controversy  arose  out  of  a  departure  from  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the 
substitution  of  state  sovereignty  instead  of  the  constit- 
uent sovereignty  of  the  people,  as  the  foundation 
of  the  Revolution  and  of  the  Union.  The  war  from  the 
beginning  had  been,  and  yet  was,  a  revolutionary  pop- 
ular war.  The  colonial  governments  never  had  pos- 
sessed or  pretended  to  claim  sovereign  power.  Many 
of  them  had  not  even  yet  constituted  themselves  as  in- 
dependent States.  The  Declaration  of  Independence 
proclaims  the  natural  rights  of  man,  and  the  constituent 
power  of  the  people  to  be  the  only  sources  of  legitimate 
government.  State  sovereignty  is  a  mere  argument  of 
power,  without  regard  to  right  —  a  mere  reproduction  of 
the  omnipotence  of  the  British  parliament  in  another 
form,  and  therefore  not  only  inconsistent  with,  but  direct- 
ly in  opposition  to,  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

The  cessions  of  the  claiming  states  of  the  crown  lands 
to  the  Union,  originated  the  territorial  system,  and  eventu- 
ated in  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  North 
Western  Territory.  It  also  removed  the  insuperable  ob- 


31 

jection  of  the  State  of  Maryland  to  the  articles  of  con- 
federation, and  her  delegates  signed  them  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1781,  four  years  and  four  months  after  they  had 
been  submitted  by  Congress  to  the  sovereign  states, 
with  a  solemn  averment  that  they  could  no  longer  be 
deferred;  that  they  seemed  essential  to  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  Union  as  a  free  peaple ;  and  that  with- 
out them  they  might  be  constrained  to  bid  adieu  to 
independence,  to  liberty,  and  safety. 

But  the  dispute  relating  to  the  jurisdiction  and  prop- 
erty of  the  crown  lands,  was  only  one  of  a  multitude  of 
stumbling  blocks  which  were  perpetually  crossing  the 
path  of  the  new  nation,  in  the  collisions  between  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
sovereignty  of  the  separate  states.  In  the  adjustment  of 
that,  both  the  systems  were  substantially  set  aside.  For 
the  claiming  states,  by  the  cessions  themselves,  aban- 
doned their  pretensions,  so  far  as  that  interest  was  con- 
cerned, to  the  rights  of  independent  state  sovereignty, 
and  the  Congress  of  the  confederation  by  an  enactment 
of  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  North  West- 
ern Territory,  assumed  an  authority  which  had  not  been 
delegated  to  them,  either  by  the  constituent  sovereign 
people,  or  by  the  separate  sovereign  states. 

The  articles  of  confederation  had  withheld  from  Con- 
gress, the  power  of  regulating  the  commerce  of  the 
Union,  and  of  levying  money  by  taxation  upon  the  peo- 
ple ;  yet  they  were  authorized  to  make  war  and  con- 
clude peace  —  to  contract  debts  and  bind  the  nation  by 
treaties  of  commerce.  The  war  was  raging  in  its 


32 

most  inveterate  fury,  and  to  defray  its  indispensable 
charges  and  expenses,  the  only  power  of  Congress  was 
to  issue  requisitions  to  the  states,  which  their  sovereign 
power  complied  with,  or  disregarded,  or  rejected,  ac- 
cording to  their  sovereign  will  and  pleasure. 

So  seldom  had  this  been  to  furnish  the  required  sup- 
plies, that  even  before  the  first  ratification  of  the  articles 
of  confederation,  on  the  3d  of  February,  1781,  it  had 
been  resolved  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  several 
states,  as  indispensably  necessary,  that  they  vest  a  pow- 
er in  Congress,  to  levy  for  the  use  of  the  United  States, 
a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  at  the  time  and 
place  of  importation,  upon  all  foreign  goods,  wares,  and 
merchandise  of  foreign  growth  and  manufactures,  im- 
ported after  the  1st  of  May,  1781 ;  also  a  like  duty  upon 
all  prize-goods,  to  be  appropriated  to  the  discharge  of  the 
principal  and  interest  of  the  debts  contracted  on  the 
faith  of  the  United  States,  for  the  support  of  the  war. 

Indispensably  necessary  !  But  according  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  state 
legislatures  themselves  had  no  authority  to  confer  this 
power  upon  Congress.  It  was  taxation  —  one  of  the 
powers  which  the  people  alone  are  competent  to  bestow, 
•and  which  their  servants,  the  state  legislatures,  if  they 
possessed  it  themselves,  had  no  right  to  delegate  to 
any  other  body. 

Upon  the  principles  of  state  sovereignty  —  power 
without  right,  this  authority  might  have  been  conferred 
upon  Congress  by  the  state  legislatures,  and  several  of 
them  did  enact  laws  for  bestowing  it.  But  by  the  arti- 


33 

cles  of  confederation,  no  alteration  of  them  could  be  ef- 
fected without  the  consent  of  all  the  states,  and  Rhode 
Island,  the  smallest  state  in  the  Union,  inflexibly  held 
out  in  the  refusal  to  grant  the  indispensably  necessary 
power.  Virginia  granted  and  soon  repealed  it.  Con- 
gress issued  bills  of  credit  as  long  as  they  had  any 
credit ;  but  all  the  states  did  the  same  till  their  bottom- 
less paper  depreciated  to  a  thousand  for  one,  and  then 
vanished  by  a  universal  refusal  to  receive  it.  Congress 
issued  four  successive  requisitions  upon  the  states,  for 
their  respective  quotas  to  pay  the  debts  and  current  ex- 
penses of  the  Union.  Not  one  of  the  states  paid  one 
half  the  amount  of  its  contribution.  Congress  bor- 
rowed money  in  France,  in  Spain,  in  Holland,  and 
obtained  it  there  when  they  could  not  raise  a  dollar 
at  home,  and  they  were  compelled  to  resort  to  new 
loans  to  pay  the  interest  upon  those  that  had  pre- 
ceded. 

Under  the  pressure  of  all  these  distresses,  the  cause 
of  independence  was  triumphant.  Peace  came.  The 
United  States  of  America  were  recognised  as  free  and 
independent,  and  as  one  People  took  the  station  to  which 
the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitled  them 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth.  But  their  confederacy 
of  sovereign  states  was  as  incompetent  to  govern  them 
in  peace  as  it  had  been  to  conduct  them  in  war.  The 
first  popular  impulse  to  union  had  carried  them  through 
the  war.  As  that  popular  impulse  died  away,  the 
confederation  had  supplied  its  place  with  hope  and 
promise,  the  total  disappointment  of  which,  though  dis- 


34 

covered  before  the  peace,  was  providentially  not  per- 
mitted to  prevent  its  conclusion. 

Peace  came.  The  heroic  leader  of  the  revolutionary 
armies  surrendered  his  commission.  The  armies  were 
disbanded,  but  they  were  not  paid.  Mutiny  was  sup- 
pressed ;  but  not  until  Congress  had  been  surrounded 
by  armed  men,  demanding  justice,  and  appealed  in 
vain  for  protection  to  the  sovereign  state  within  whose 
jurisdiction  they  were  sitting.  A  single  frigate,  the 
remnant  of  a  gallant  navy,  which  had  richly  shared  the 
glories,  and  deeply  suffered  the  calamities  of  the  war, 
was  dismantled  and  sold.  The  expenses  of  the  nation 
were  reduced  to  the  minimum  of  a  peace  establishment, 
and  yet  the  nation  was  not  relieved.  The  nation  wanted 
a  government  founded  on  the  principles  of  the  Declar- 
ation of  Independence  —  a  government  constituted 
by  the  people. 

The  commerce,  navigation,  and  fisheries  of  the  na- 
tion, had  been  annihilated  by  the  war.  But  as  a  civil- 
ized nation  cannot  exist  without  commerce,  an  illicit 
trade  with  the  enemy  had  sprung  up  towards  the  close 
of  the  war,  highly  injurious  to  the  common  cause, 
but  which  Congress  had  not  the  power  to  suppress. 
The  same  causes  had  given  rise  to  another  practice  not 
less  pernicious  and  immoral,  by  which  privateersmen 
ransomed  the  prizes  captured  from  the  enemy  at  sea  — 
that  is,  by  releasing  the  captured  vessel  for  a  contribu- 
tion taken  in  bills  upon  the  owner  of  the  prize,  which 
were  punctually  paid,  thereby  converting  the  trade  of 
the  privateer  into  a  species  of  gambling  piracy. 


These  practices  ceased  with  the  peace.  But  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States,  for  want  of  a  regulating  pow- 
er, was  left  at  the  mercy  of  foreign  and  rival  traders. 
Britain  immediately  took  advantage  of  this  weakness, 
declined  entering  into  any  commercial  treaty  with  us, 
which  Congress  had  proposed,  and  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  American  trade  all  the  weight  of  her  navigation 
laws.  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  made  the  experi- 
ment of  counteracting  laws,  the  only  effect  of  which 
was  to  exclude  a  little  remnant  of  their  trade  from  their 
own  ports,  and  to  transfer  it  to  the  ports  of  neighbouring 
states. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  1783,  Congress  renewed  the 
demand  upon  the  states,  for  authority  to  levy  an  im- 
post duty,  specific  on  sundry  articles  of  importation, 
and  five  per  cent  ad  valorem  on  others,  to  raise  not  quite 
one  million  of  dollars,  or  about  two  fifths  of  the  annual 
interest  accruing  upon  the  public  debt;  and  that  the 
states  should  themselves  establish  some  system  for 
supplying  the  public  treasury  with  funds,  for  the  punc- 
tual payment  of  the  other  three  fifths  of  the  annual  in- 
terest ;  and  also,  for  an  alteration  in  the  articles  of  con- 
federation, changing  the  proportional  rule  of  contribu- 
tion of  the  states,  from  the  surface  of  settled  land  to  the 
numbers  of  population. 

And  on  the  30th   of  April,   1784,  Congress  recom- 
mended  to  the  state  legislatures  to  vest  the   United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  for  the  term  of  fifteen 
years,  with  powers  to  prohibit  importations  of  merchan 
disc  in  foreign  vessels  of  nations  with  whom  the  United 


36 

States  had  no  treaties  of  comiherce,  and  to  prohibit  for- 
eigners, unless  authorized  by  treaty,  from  importing  into 
the  United  States,  merchandise,  other  than  the  produce 
or  manufacture  of  their  own  country.  In  other  words, 
to  enact  a  navigation  law. 

None  of  these  indispensably  necessary  powers  were 
ever  conferred  by  the  state  legislatures  upon  the  Con- 
gress of  the  confederation  ;  and  well  was  it  that  they 
never  were.  The  system  itself  was  radically  defective. 
Its  incurable  disease  was  an  apostacy  from  the  principles 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  A  substitution  of 
separate  state  sovereignties,  in  the  place  of  the  constit- 
uent sovereignty  of  the  people,  as  the  basis  of  the  con- 
federate Union. 

But  in  this  Congress  of  the  confederation,  the  master 
minds  of  James  Madison  and  Alexander  Hamilton, 
were  constantly  engaged  through  the  closing  years  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  those  of  peace  which  im- 
mediately succeeded.  That  of  John  Jay  was  associa- 
ted with  them  shortly  after  the  peace,  in  the  capacity 
of  Secretary  to  the  Congress  for  Foreign  Affairs.  The 
incompetency  of  the  articles  of  confederation  for  the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Union  at  home  and 
abroad,  was  demonstrated  to  them  by  the  painful  and 
mortifying  experience  of  every  day.  Washington, 
though  in  retirement,  was  brooding  over  the  cruel  in- 
justice suffered  by  his  associates  in  arms,  the  warriors 
of  the  Revolution ;  over  the  prostration  of  the  public 
credit  and  the  faith  of  the  nation,  in  the  neglect  to  pro- 
vide for  the  payment  even  of  the  interest  upon  the  pub 


37 

lie  debt ;  over  the  disappointed  hopes  of  the  friends 
of  freedom;  in  the  language  of  the  address  from  Con- 
gress to  the  States  of  the  18th  of  April,  1783  —  "the 
pride  and  boast  of  America,  that  the  rights  for  which 
$be  contended  were  the  rights  of  human  nature." 

At  his  residence  of  Mount  Vernon,  in  March,  1785, 
he  ftrst  idea  was  started  of  a  revisal  of  the  articles  of 
*  onifet!eration,  by  an  organization  of  means  differing 
ficm  tbat  of  a  compact  between  the  state  Legislatures 
and  their  own  delegates  in  Congress.  A  convention  of 
delegates  from  the  state  Legislatures,  independent  of 
the  Congress  itself,  was  the  expedient  which  presented 
itself  for  effecting  the  purpose,  and  an  augmentation  of 
the  powers  of  Congress  for  the  regulation  of  com- 
merce, as  the  object  for  which  this  assembly  was  to  be 
convened.  In  January,  1786,  the  proposal  was  made 
and  adopted  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  and  com- 
municated to  the  other  state  Legislatures. 

The  Convention  was  held  at  Annapolis,  in  Septem- 
ber of  that  year.  It  was  attended  by  delegates  from 
only  five  of  the  central  states,  who  on  comparing  their 
restricted  powers,  with  the  glaring  and  universally  ac- 
knowledged defects  of  the  confederation,  reported  only 
a  recommendation  for  the  assemblage  of  another  con- 
vention of  delegates  to  meet  at  Philadelphia,  in  May, 
1787,  from  all  the  states  and  with  enlarged  powers. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  the  work 
of  this  Convention.  But  in  its  construction  the  Con- 
vention immediately  perceived  that  they  must  retrace 
flieir  steps,  and  fall  back  from  a  league  of  friendship 


3S 

between  sovereign  states,  to  the  constituent  sovereign- 
ty of  the  people  ;  from  power  to  right — from  the  irre- 
sponsible despotism  of  state  sovereignty,  to  the  self- 
evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In 
that  instrument,  the  right  to  institute  and  to  alter  gov- 
ernments among  men  was  ascribed  exclusively  to  the 
people — the  ends  of  government  were  declared  to  be 
to  secure  the  natural  rights  of  man ;  and  that  rvhen  the 
government  degenerates  from  the  promotion  to  the 
destruction  of  that  end,  the  right  and  the  duty  accrues 
to  the  people,  to  dissolve  this  degenerate  government 
and  to  institute  another.  The  Signers  of  the  Declara- 
tion further  averred,  that  the  one  people  of  the  United 
Colonies  were  then  precisely  in  that  situation  —  with  a 
government  degenerated  into  tyranny,  and  called  upon 
by  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God,  to  dissolve 
that  government  and  to  institute  another.  Then  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  the 
Colonies,  they  pronounced  the  dissolution  of  their  al- 
legiance to  the  king,  and  their  eternal  separation  from 
the  nation  of  Great  Britain  —  and  declared  the  United 
Colonies  independent  States.  And  here  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  one  people  they  had  stopped.  They 
did  not  require  the  confirmation  of  this  Act,  for  the 
power  to  make  the  Declaration  had  already  been  con- 
ferred upon  them  by  the  people ;  delegating  the  power, 
indeed,  separately  in  the  separate  colonies,  not  by  colo- 
nial authority,  but  by  the  spontaneous  revolutionary 
movement  of  the  people  in  them  all. 
From  the  day  of  that  Declaration,  the  constituent 


39 

power  of  the  people  had  never  been  called  into  action. 
A  confederacy  had  been  substituted  in  the  place  of  a 
government;  and  state  sovereignty  had  usurped  the 
constituent  sovereignty  of  the  people. 

The  Convention  assembled  at  Philadelphia  had 
themselves  no  direct  authority  from  the  people.  Their 
authority  was  all  derived  from  the  state  legislatures. 
But  they  had  the  articles  of  confederation  before  them, 
and  they  saw  and  felt  the  wretched  condition  into 
which  they  had  brought  the  whole  people,  and  that  the 
Union  itself  was  in  the  agonies  of  death.  They  soon 
perceived  that  the  indispensably  needed  powers  were 
such  as  no  state  government ;  no  combination  of  them 
was  by  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence competent  to  bestow.  They  could  emanate  only 
from  the  people.  A  highly  respectable  portion  of  the 
assembly,  still  clinging  to  the  confederacy  of  states, 
proposed  as  a  substitute  for  the  Constitution,  a  mere 
revival  of  the  articles  of  confederation,  with  a  grant 
of  additional  powers  to  the  Congress.  Their  plan  was 
respectfully  and  thoroughly  discussed,  but  the  want  of 
a  government  and  of  the  sanction  of  the  people  to  the 
delegation  of  powers,  happily  prevailed.  A  Constitu- 
tion for  the  people,  and  the  distribution  of  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  powers,  was  prepared.  It  an- 
nounced itself  as  the  work  of  the  people  themselves ; 
and  as  this  was  unquestionably  a  power  assumed  by 
the  Convention,  not  delegated  to  them  by  the  people, 
they  religiously  confined  it  to  a  simple  power  to  pro- 
pose, and  carefully  provided  that  it  should  be  no  more 


40 

than  a  proposal  until  sanctioned  by  the  confederation 
Congress,  by  the  state  Legislatures,  and  by  the  people 
of  the  several  states,  in  conventions  specially  assem- 
bled, by  authority  of  their  Legislatures,  for  the  single 
purpose  of  examining  and  passing  upon  it. 

And  thus  was  consummated  the  work,  commenced 
by  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  A  work  in  which 
the  people  of  the  North  American  Union,  acting  under 
the  deepest  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  Supreme  Ruler 
of  the  universe,  had  achieved  the  most  transcendent  act 
of  power,  that  social  man  in  his  mortal  condition  can 
perform.  Even  that  of  dissolving  the  ties  of  allegiance 
which  he  is  bound  to  his  country  —  of  renouncing  that 
country  itself —  of  demolishing  its  government,  of  insti- 
tuting another  government,  and  of  making  for  himself 
another  country  in  its  stead. 

And  on  that  day,  of  which  you  now  commemorate 
the  fiftieth  anniversary — on  that  30th  day  of  April,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  was  this 
mighty  revolution,  not  only  in  the  affairs  of  our  own 
country,  but  in  the  principles  of  government  over  civ- 
ilized man,  accomplished. 

The  revolution  itself  was  a  work  of  thirteen  years — 
and  had  never  been  completed  until  that  day.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  are  parts  of  one  consistent  whole,  founded 
upon  one  and  the  same  theory  of  government, 
then  new,  not  as  a  theory,  for  it  had  been  working 
itself  into  the  mind  of  man  for  many  ages,  and  been 
especially  expounded  in  the  writings  of  Locke,  but 


41 

had  never  before  been  adopted  by  a  great  nation  in 
practice. 

There  are  yet,  even  at  this  day,  many  speculative  ob- 
jections to  this  theory.  Even  in  our  own  country,  there 
are  still  philosophers  who  deny  the  principles  asserted 
in  the  Declaration,  as  self-evident  truths  —  who  deny 
the  natural  equality  and  inalienable  rights  of  man^- 
who  deny  that  the  people  are  the  only  legitimate  source 
of  power  —  who  deny  that  all  just  powers  of  govern- 
ment are  derived  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
Neither  your  time,  nor  perhaps  the  cheerful  nature  of  this 
occasion,  permit  me  here  to  enter  upon  the  examination 
of  this  anti-revolutionary  theory,  which  arrays  state 
sovereignty  against  the  constituent  sovereignty  of  the 
people,  and  distorts  the  Constitution  of  tho  United 
States  into  a  league  of  friendship  between  confederate 
corporations.  I  speak  to  matters  of  fact.  There  is  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  there  is  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  —  let  them  speak  for  them- 
selves. The  grossly  immoral  and  dishonest  doctrine  of 
despotic  state  sovereignty,  the  exclusive  judge  of  its 
own  obligations,  and  responsible  to  no  power  on  earth 
or  in  heaven,  for  the  violation  of  them,  is  not  there. 
The  Declaration  says  it  is  not  in  me.  The  Constitution 
says  it  is  not  in  me. 

The  confederacy  of  sovereign  states  has  made  itself 
known  by  its  fruits ;  but  there  is  one  observation  so 
on  ditable  to  our  revolutionary  fathers,  that  it  ought 
never  to  be  overlooked.  The  defects  of  the  confedera- 
cy were  vices  of  the  institution,  and  not  of  the  men  by 

6 


42 

whom  it  was  administered.  ^The  jealousy  of  delegated 
power  pervaded  every  part  of  the  articles  of  confeder- 
acy, and  indeed,  almost  all  the  separate  constitutions. 
The  prevailing-  principle  of  every  provision  made  under 
the  influence  of  this  distrusting  maxim,  was  that  the 
same  power  should  not  long  be  intrusted  to  the  same 
hands  —  but  it  never  extended  to  the  exclusion  of  any 
person  from  office,  after  a  designate  term  of  service  in 
another.  One  of  the  articles  of  confederation  had  in- 
terdicted every  person  from  holding  the  office  of  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  more  than  three  years  in  six.  But  any 
member  excluded  by  the  expiration  of  his  limited  term 
of  service  in  Congress,  was  eligible  to  any  other  station 
in  the  legislative,  executive,  or  judicial  departments  of 
his  state,  or  tp  any  office,  civil  or  military,  within  the 
general  jurisdiction  of  Congress. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  great  measures  by  which  the 
revolution  was  commenced,  conducted,  and  concluded, 
were  devised  and  prosecuted  by  a  very  few  leading 
minds,  animated  by  one  pervading,  predominating  spirit 
The  object  of  the  Revolution  was  the  transformation  of 
thirteen  dependant  and  oppressed  English  colonies,  into 
one  nation  of  thirteen  confederated  states.  It  was  as 
the  late  Mr.  Madison  remarked  to  Miss  Martineau,  an 
undertaking  to  do  that  which  had  always  before  been 
believed  impossible.  In  the  progress  to  its  accomplish- 
ment, obstacles  almost  numberless,  and  difficulties  appa- 
rently insurmountable,  obstructed  every  step  of  the  way. 
That  in  the  dissolution  and  re-institution  of  the  social 
compact,  by  men  marching  over  an  untrodden  path  ta 


43 

the  very  fountains  of  human  government,  great  and 
dangerous  errors  should  have  been  committed,  is  but  an 
acknowledgment  that  the  builders  of  the  new  edifice 
were  fallible  men.  But  at  the  head  of  the  convention 
that  formed  the  Constitution,  was  George  Washington, 
the  leader  of  the  armies  of  the  Revolution — >  among  its 
prominent  members  were  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Roger 
Sherman,  two  of  the  members  of  that  memorable 
committee  who  had  reported  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence— and  its  other  members  without  exception, 
were  statesmen  who  had  served  in  the  councils  of  the 
Union,  throughout  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  or  war- 
riors who  had  contended  with  the  enemy  upon  the 
field. 

The  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
themselves,  were  the  persons  who  had  first  fallen  into 
the  error  of  believing  that  a  confederacy  of  indepen- 
dent states  would  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  repudi- 
ated government  of  Great  Britain.  Experience  had 
demonstrated  their  mistake,  and  the  condition  of  the 
country  was  a  shriek  of  terror  at  its  awful  magnitude. 
They  did  retrace  their  steps — not  to  extinguish  the 
federative  feature  in  which  their  union  had  been  form- 
ed :  nothing  could  be  wider  from  their  intention — but 
to  restore  the  order  of  things  conformably  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  as  they 
had  been  arranged  in  the  first  plans  for  a  confederation. 
To  make  the  people  of  the  Union  the  constituent  body, 
and  the  reservation  of  the  rights  of  the  states  subordi- 
nate to  the  Constitution.  Hence  the  delegation  of 


44 

power  was  not  from  each  state  retaining  it  sovereignty, 
and  all  rights  not  expressly  delegated  by  the  states, 
but  from  the  people  of  each  and  of  all  the  states,  to 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  represent- 
ing at  once  the  whole  people  and  all  the  states  of  the 
Union. 

They  retained  the  federative  feature  pre-eminently 
in  the  constitution  of  the  Senate,  and  in  the  complica- 
tion of  its  great  powers,  legislative,  executive,  and  ju- 
dicial— making  that  body  a  participant  in  all  the  great 
departments  of  constituted  power.  They  preserved 
the  federative  principle  and  combined  it  with  the  con- 
stituent power  of  the  people  in  the  mode  of  electing 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  whether  by  the 
electoral  colleges,  or  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
voting  by  states.  They  preserved  it  even  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  House,  the  popular  branch  of  the 
Legislature,  by  giving  separate  delegations  to  the  peo- 
ple of  each  state.  But  they  expressly  made  the  Con- 
stitution and  constitutional  laws  of  the  United  States 
paramount  not  only  to  the  laws,  but  to  the  constitutions 
of  the  separate  states  inconsistent  with  them. 

I  have  traced  step  by  step,  in  minute  and  tedious  de- 
tail, the  departure  from  the  principles  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  in  the  process  of  organizing  the 
confederation — the  disastrous  and  lamentable  conse- 
quences of  that  departure,  and  the  admirable  temper 
and  spirit,  with  which  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia 
returned  to  those  principles  in  the  preparation  and 
composition  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 


45 

That  this  work  was  still  imperfect,  candour  will  compel 
us  all  to  admit,  though  in  specifying  its  imperfections, 
the  purest  minds  and  the  most  patriotic  hearts  diifer 
widely  from  each  other  in  their  conclusions.  Distrust- 
ful as  it  becomes  me  to  be  of  my  own  judgment,  but 
authorized  by  the  experience  of  a  full  half  century, 
during  which  I  have  been  variously  and  almost  unin- 
terruptedly engaged  in  both  branches  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  in  the  executive  departments  of  this  govern- 
ment, and  released,  by  my  own  rapid  approach  to  the 
closing  scene  of  life,  from  all  possible  influence  of  per- 
sonal interest  or  ambition,  I  may  perhaps  be  permitted 
to  remark,  that  the  omission  of  a  clear  and  explicit 
Declaration  of  Rights,  was  a  great  defect  in  the  Con- 
stitution as  presented  by  the  Convention  to  the  people, 
and  that  it  has  been  imperfectly  remedied  by  the  ten 
Articles  of  amendment  proposed  by  the  first  Congress 
under  the  Constitution,  and  now  incorporated  with  it. 
A  Declaration  of  Rights  would  have  marked  in  a  more 
emphatic  manner  the  return  from  the  derivative  sover- 
eignty of  the  states,  to  the  constituent  sovereignty  of 
the  people  for  the  basis  of  the  federal  Union,  than  was 
done  by  the  words,  "  We  the  people  of  the  United 
States,"  in  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution.  A  Decla- 
ration of  Rights,  also,  systematically  drawn  up,  as  a 
part  of  the  Constitution,  and  adapted  to  it  with  the 
consummate  skill  displayed  in  the  consistent  adjust- 
ment of  its  mighty  powers,  would  have  made  it  more 
complete  in  its  unity,  and  in  its  symmetry,  than  it  now 
appears,  an  elegant  edifice,  but  encumbered  with 


46 

superadditions,  not  always  in  keeping  with  the  general 
character  of  the  building  itself. 

A  Declaration  of  Rights,  reserved  by  the  constituent 
body,  the  people,  might  and  probably  wrould  have  pre- 
vented many  delicate  and  dangerous  questions  of  con- 
flicting jurisdictions  which  have  arisen,  and  may  yet 
arise  between  the  general  and  the  separate  state  gov- 
ernments. The  rights  reserved  by  the  people  would 
have  been  exclusively  their  own  rights,  and  they  would 
have  been  protected  from  the  encroachments  not  only 
of  the  general  government,  but  of  the  disunited  states. 

And  this  is  the  day  of  your  commemoration.  The 
day  when  the  Revolution  of  Independence  being  com- 
pleted, and  the  new  confederated  Republic  announced 
to  the  world,  as  the  United  States  of  America,  consti- 
tuted and  organized  under  a  government  founded  on 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was 
to  hold  her  course  along  the  lapse  of  time  among  the 
civilized  potentates  of  the  earth. 

From  this  point  of  departure  we  have  looked  back 
to  the  origin  of  the  Union ;  to  the  conflict  of  war  by 
which  the  severance  from  the  mother-country,  and  the 
release  from  the  thraldom  of  a  trans- Atlantic  monarch, 
were  effected,  and  to  the  more  arduous  and  gradual 
progression  by  which  the  new  government  had  been 
constructed  to  take  the  place  of  that  which  had  been 
cast  off  and  demolished. 

The  first  object  of  the  people,  declared  by  the  Con- 
stitution as  their  motive  for  its  establishment,  to  form  a 
more  perfect  Union,  had  been  attained  by  the  establish- 


47 

ment  of  the  Constitution  itself;  but  this  was  yet  to  be 
demonstrated  by  its  practical  operation  in  the  establish- 
ment of  justice,  in  the  ensurance  of  domestic  tranquilityy 
in  the  provison  for  the  common  defence,  in  the  promo- 
tion of  the  general  welfare,  and  in  securing  the  bles- 
sings of  liberty  to  the  people  themselves,  the  authors  of 
the  Constitution,  and  to  their  posterity. 

These  are  the  great  and  transcendantal  objects  of  alt 
legitimate  government.  The  primary  purposes  of  all 
human  association.  For  these  purposes  the  confedera- 
tion had  been  instituted,  and  had  signally  failed  for 
their  attainment.  How  far  have  they  been  attained 
under  this  new  national  organization  ? 

It  has  abided  the  trial  of  time.  This  day  fifty  years 
have  passed  away  since  the  first  impulse  was  given  to  the 
wheels  of  this  political  machine.  The  generation  by 
which  it  was  constructed,  has  passed  away.  Not  one 
member  of  the  Convention  who  gave  this  Constitution  to 
their  country,  survives.  They  have  enjoyed  its  blessings 
so  far  as  they  were  secured  by  their  labours.  They  have 
been  gathered  to  their  fathers.  That  posterity  for  whom 
they  toiled,  not  less  anxiously  than  for  themselves,  has 
arisen  to  occupy  their  places,  and  is  rapidly  passing 
away  in  its  turn.  A  third  generation,  unborn  upon 
the  day  which  you  commemorate,  forms  a  vast  majority 
of  the  assembly  who  now  honour  me  with  their  attention, 
Your  city  which  then  numbered  scarcely  thirty  thousand 
inhabitants,  now  counts  its  numbers  by  hundreds  of 
thousands.  Your  state,  then  numbering  less  than  double 
the  population  of  your  city  at  this  day,  now  tells  its. 


48 

children  by  millions.  The  thirteen  primitive  states 
of  the  revolution,  painfully  rallied  by  this  constitution 
to  the  fold  from  which  the  impotence  and  dis-uniting 
character  of  the  confederacy,  was  already  leading  them 
astray,  now  reinforced  by  an  equal  number  of  younger 
sisters,  and  all  swarming  with  an  active,  industrious, 
and  hardy  population,  have  penetrated  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  opened  a  paradise  upon 
the  wilds  watered  by  the  father  of  the  floods.  The 
Union,  which  at  the  first  census,  ordained  by  this 
Constitution,  returned  a  people  of  less  than  four  millions 
of  souls;  at  the  next  census,  already  commanded  by 
law,  the  semi-centural  enumeration  since  that  day,  is 
about  to  exhibit  a  return  of  seventeen  millions.  Never 
since  the  first  assemblage  of  men  in  social  union,  has 
there  been  such  a  scene  of  continued  prosperity  re- 
corded upon  the  annals  of  time. 

How  much  of  this  prosperity  is  justly  attributable  to 
the  Constitution,  then  first  put  upon  its  trial,  may  per* 
haps  be  differently  estimated  by  speculative  minds. 
Never  was  a  form  of  government  so  obstinately,  so  perti- 
naciously contested  before  its  establishment  —  and  never 
was  human  foresight  and  sagacity  more  disconcerted  and 
refuted  by  the  event,  than  those  of  the  opposers  of  the 
Constitution.  On  the  other  hand  its  results  have  sur- 
passed the  most  sanguine  anticipations  of  its  friends. 
Neither  Washington,  nor  Madison,  nor  Hamilton,  dared 
to  hope  that  this  new  experiment  of  government  would 
so  triumphantly  accomplish  the  purposes  which  the  con- 
federation had  so  utterly  failed  to  effect.  Washington — • 


49 

far  from  anticipating  the  palm  of  glory  which  his  admin- 
istration of  this  government  was  to  entwine  around  his 
brow,  transcending  the  laurel  of  his  then  unrivalled  mil- 
itary renown,  in  the  interval  between  the  4th  of  March, 
when  the  meeting  of  the  first  Congress  had  been  sum- 
moned, and  the  14th  of  April,  when  he  received  from 
them  the  notification  of  his  election  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  thus  unbosomed  to  his  friend  Knox  the 
forebodings  of  his  anxious  and  agitated  mind.  "  I  feel,7' 
wrote  he,  "  for  those  members  of  the  new  Congress, 
who  hitherto  have  given  an  unavailing  attendance  at 
the  theatre  of  action.  For  myself,  the  delay  may  be 
compared  to  a  reprieve ;  for  in  confidence  I  tell  you, 
(with  the  world  it  would  obtain  little  credit,)  that  my 
movements  to  the  chair  of  government  will  be  accom- 
panied by  feelings  not  unlike  those  of  a  culprit  who  is 
going  to  the  place  of  his  execution.  So  unwilling  am 
I,  in  the  evening  of  life,  nearly  consumed  in  public  cares, 
to  quit  a  peaceful  abode  for  an  ocean  of  difficulties, 
without  that  competency  of  political  skill,  abilities,  and 
inclination,  which  are  necessary  to  manage  the  helm. 
I  am  sensible  that  I  am  embarking  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple and  a  good  name  of  my  own,  on  this  voyage,  but 
what  returns  can  be  made  of  them,  Heaven  alone  can 
foretell.  Integrity  and  firmness  are  all  I  can  promise : 
these,  be  the  voyage  long  or  short,  shall  never  forsake 
me,  although  I  may  be  deserted  by  all  men :  for  of  the 
consolations  which  are  to  be  derived  from  them,  under 
any  circumstances,  the  world  cannot  deprive  me." 

One  of  the  most  indubitable  tests  of  the  merit  of  hu- 

7 


50 

man  institutions  for  the  government  of  men,  is  the  length 
of  time  which  they  endure  ;  but  so  fluctuating  is  the 
character  of  nations  and  of  ages,  as  well  as  of  individ- 
uals, that  in  the  history  of  mankind  before  our  own  age, 
this  durability  of  human  governments  has  been  exclu- 
sively confined  to  those  founded  upon  conquests  and 
hereditary  power.  In  summing  up  the  character  of  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror,  the  Scottish  historian,  Hume,  re- 
marks, that  "  though  he  rendered  himself  infinitely  odi- 
ous to  his  English  subjects,  he  transmitted  his  power  to 
his  posterity,  and  the  throne  is  still  filled  by  his  descend- 
ants ;  a  proof,"  says  the  historian,  "  that  the  foundations 
which  he  laid,  were  firm  and  solid,  and  that  amidst  all 
his  violence,  while  he  seemed  only  to  gratify  the  present 
passion,  he  had  still  an  eye  towards  futurity." 

The  descendant  from  William  the  Conqueror,  who 
filled  the  throne  of  Britain  when  the  Scottish  historian 
made  this  remark,  was  the  person  whom  his  American 
subjects,  to  whom  he  had  rendered  himself  odious,  unseat- 
ed from  that  portion  of  his  throne  which  ruled  over  them; 
and  in  discarding  him  they  had  demolished  the  throne 
itself  for  ever.  They  had  resolved  for  themselves  and 
their  posterity,  never  again  to  be  ruled  by  thrones.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  had  promulgated  principles 
of  government,  subversive  of  all  unlimited  sovereignty 
and  all  hereditary  power.  Principles,  in  consistency  with 
which  no  conqueror  could  establish  by  violence  a  throne 
to  be  trodden  by  himself  and  by  his  posterity,  for  a  space 
of  eight  hundred  years.  The  foundations  of  government 
laid  by  those  who  had  burnt  by  fire  and  scattered  to  the 


51 

winds  of  Heaven,  the  ashes  of  this  conqueror's  throne, 
were  human  rights,  responsibility  to  God,  and  the 
consent  of  the  people.  Upon  these  principles,  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  had  been  formed,  was  now 
organized,  and  about  to  be  carried  into  execution,  to 
abide  the  test  of  time.  The  first  element  of  its  longev- 
ity was  undoubtedly  to  be  found  in  itself — but  we 
may,  without  superstition  or  fanaticism,  believe  that  a 
superintending  Providence  had  adapted  to  the  charac- 
ter and  principles  of  this  institution,  those  of  the  man  by 
whom  it  was  to  be  first  administered.  To  fill  a  throne  v/as 
neither  his  ambition  nor  his  vocation.  He  had  no  de- 
scendants to  whom  a  throne  could  have  been  transmitted, 
had  it  existed.  He  was  placed  by  the  unanimous  voice 
of  his  country,  at  the  head  of  that  government  which  they 
had  substituted  for  a  throne,  and  his  eye  looking  to  fu- 
turity, was  intent  upon  securing  to  after  ages,  not  a 
throi_e  for  a  seat  to  his  own  descendants,  but  an  immove- 
able  seat  upon  which  the  descendants  of  his  country 
might  sit  in  peace,  and  freedom,  and  happiness,  if  so  it 
please  Heaven,  to  the  end  of  time. 

That  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  task  he  looked 
forward  with  a  searching  eye,  and  even  an  over-anxious 
heart,  will  not  be  surprising  to  any  who  understands 
his  character,  or  is  capable  of  comprehending  the  mag- 
nitude and  difficulty  of  the  task  itself. 

There  are  incidental  to  the  character  of  man  two 
qualities,  both  developed  by  his  intercourse  with  his  fel- 
low-creatures, and  both  belonging  to  the  immortal  part 
of  his  nature ;  of  elements  apparently  so  opposed  and 


52 

inconsistent  with  each  other,  ,as  to  be  irreconcilable  to- 
gether ;  but  yet  indispensable  in  their  union  to  consti- 
tute the  highest  excellence  of  the  human  character. 
They  are  the  spirit  of  command,  and  the  spirit  of  meek- 
ness. They  have  been  exemplified  in  the  purity  of 
ideal  perfection,  only  once  in  the  history  of  mankind, 
and  that  was  in  the  mortal  life  of  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  It  would  seem  to  have  been  exhibited  on  earth 
by  his  supernatural  character,  as  a  model  to  teach  mor- 
tal man,  to  what  sublime  elevation  his  nature  is  capa- 
ble of  ascending.  They  had  been  displayed,  though  not 
in  the  same  perfection  by  the  preceding  legislator  of 
the  children  of  Israel ; — 

"  That  Shepherd,  who  first  taught  the  chosen  seed 
In  the  beginning,  how  the  heavens  and  earth 
Rose  out  of  Chaos  5" 

but  so  little  were  they  known,  or  conceived  of  in  the  an- 
tiquity of  profane  history,  that  in  the  poems  of  Homer, 
that  unrivalled  delineator  of  human  character  in  the  he- 
roic ages,  there  is  no  attempt  to  introduce  them  in  the 
person  of  any  one  of  his  performers,  human  or  divine. 
In  the  poem  of  his  Roman  imitator  and  rival,  a  feeble 
exemplification  of  them  is  shadowed  forth  in  the  incon- 
sistent composition  of  the  pious  ^Eneas ;  but  history, 
ancient  or  modern,  had  never  exhibited  in  the  real  life 
of  man,  an  example  in  which  those  two  properties  were 
so  happily  blended  together,  as  they  were  in  the  person 
of  George  Washington.  These  properties  belong  rather 
to  the  moral  than  the  intellectual  nature  of  man.  They 


53 

are  not  unfrequently  found  in  minds  little  cultivated  by 
science,  but  they  require  for  the  exercise  of  that  mutual 
control  which  guards  them  from  degenerating  into  arro- 
gance or  weakness,  the  guidance  of  a  sound  judg- 
ment, and  the  regulation  of  a  profound  sense  of  respon- 
sibility to  a  higher  Power.  It  was  this  adaptation  of  the 
character  of  Washington  to  that  of  the  institution  over 
the  composition  of  which  he  had  presided,  as  he  was 
now  called  to  preside  over  its  administration,  which 
constituted  one  of  the  most  favorable  omens  of  its 
eventful  stability  and  success. 

But  this  institution  was  republican,  and  even  demo- 
cratic. And  here  not  to  be  misunderstood,  I  mean  by 
democratic,  a  government,  the  administration  of  which 
must  always  be  rendered  comfortable  to  that  predomi- 
nating public  opinion,  which  even  in  the  ages  of  heathen 
antiquity,  was  denominated  the  queen  of  the  world :  and 
by  republican  I  mean  a  government  reposing,  not  upon  the 
virtues  or  the  powers  of  any  one  man  —  not  upon  that 
honour,  which  Montesquieu  lays  down  as  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  monarchy  —  far  less  upon  that 
fear  which  he  pronounces  the  basis  of  despotism ;  but 
upon  that  virtue  which  he,  a  noble  of  aristocratic  peer- 
age, and  the  subject  of  an  absolute  monarch,  boldly  pro- 
claims as  a  fundamental  principle  of  republican  govern- 
ment. The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  re- 
publican and  democratic  —  but  the  experience  of  all 
former  ages  had  shown  that  of  all  human  governments, 
democracy  was  the  most  unstable,  fluctuating  and  short* 
lived;  and  it  was  obvious  that  if  virtue — the  virtue 
of  the  people,  was  the  foundation  of  republican  govern- 


54 

merit,  the  stability  and  duration  of  the  government  must 
depend  upon  the  stability  and  duration  of  the  virtue  by 
which  it  is  sustained. 

Now  the  virtue  which  had  been  infused  into  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and  was  to  give  to  its 
vital  existence  the  stability  and  duration  to  which  it 
was  destined,  was  no  other  than  the  concretion  of  those 
abstract  principles  which  had  been  first  proclaimed  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  — namely,  the  self-evident 
truths  of  the  natural  and  unalienable  rights  of  man,  of 
the  indefeasible  constituent  and  dissolvent  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  always  subordinate  to  a  rule  of  right  and 
wrong,  and  always  responsible  to  the  Supreme  Ruler 
of  the  universe  for  the  rightful  exercise  of  that  sov- 
ereign, constituent,  and  dissolvent  power. 

This  was  the  platform  upon  which  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  had  been  erected.  Its  VIRTUES, 
its  republican  character,  consisted  in  its  conformity  to 
the  principles  proclaimed  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  as  its  administration  must  necessarily 
be  always  pliable  to  the  fluctuating  varieties  of  public 
opinion ;  its  stability  and  duration  by  a  like  overruling 
and  irresistible  necessity,  was  to  depend  upon  the  sta- 
bility and  duration  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple of  that  virtue,  or  in  other  words,  of  those  principles, 
proclaimed  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
embodied  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

With  these  considerations,  we  shall  be  better  able  to 
comprehend  the  feelings  of  repugnance,  of  pain,  of  an- 
guish, of  fearful  forebodings,  with  which  Washington 
had  consented  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  this  new  and 


55 

untried  experiment  to  consolidate  the  people  of  the 
thirteen  then  disunited  states  into  one  confederated  and 
permanent  happy  Union.  For  his  own  integrity  and 
firmness  he  could  answer ;  and  these  were  sufficient  to 
•  redeem  his  own  personal  responsibility — but  he  was 
embarking  on  this  ocean  of  difficulty  a  good  name 
already  achieved  by  toils,  and  dangers,  and  services  un- 
paralleled in  human  history — surpassing  in  actual  value 
the  richest  diadem  upon  earth,  and  more  precious  in 
his  estimation  than  the  throne  of  the  universal  globe, 
had  it  been  offered  as  an  alternative  to  his  choice. 

He  knew  the  result  would  not  depend  upon  him. 
His  reliance  was  upon  the  good  providence  of  Heaven. 
He  foresaw  that  he  might  be  deserted  by  all  mankind. 
The  Constitution  itself  had  been  extorted  from  the 
grinding  necessity  of  a  reluctant  nation.  The  people 
only  of  eleven  of  the  thirteen  primitive  states  had 
sanctioned  it  by  their  adoption.  A  stubborn,  unyield- 
ing resistance  against  its  adoption  had  manifested  itself 
in  some  of  the  most  powerful  states  in  the  Union,  and 
when  overpowered  by  small  majorities  in  their  conven- 
tions, had  struggled  in  some  instances  successfully,  to 
recover  their  ascendancy  by  electing  to  both  Houses  of 
Congress  members  who  had  signalized  themselves  in 
opposition  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  A  sul- 
len, embittered,  exasperated  spirit  was  boiling  in  the 
bosoms  of  the  defeated,  then  styled  anti-Federal  party, 
whose  rallying  cry  was  state  rights — state  sover- 
eignty—  state  independence.  To  this  standard  no 
small  number  even  of  the  ardent  and  distinguished 


56 

patriots  of  the  Revolution  had  attached  themselves 
\vith  partial  affection.  State  sovereignty — unlimited 
state  sovereignty,  amenable  not  to  the  authority  of  the 
Union,  but  only  to  the  people  of  the  disunited  state 
itself,  had,  with  the  left-handed  wisdom  characteristic 
of  faction,  assumed  the  mask  of  liberty,  pranked  her- 
self out  in  the  garb  of  patriotism,  and  courted  the  pop- 
ular favour  in  each  state  by  appeals  to  their  separate 
independence  —  affecting  to  style  themselves  exclu- 
sively Republicans,  and  stigmatizing  the  Federalists, 
and  even  Washington  himself  their  head,  as  monarch- 
ists and  tories. 

On  the  other  hand,  no  small  number  of  the  Federal- 
ists, sickened  by  the  wretched  and  ignominious  failure 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  to  fulfil  the  promise 
of  the  Revolution ;  provoked  at  once  and  discouraged 
by  the  violence  and  rancour  of  the  opposition  against 
their  strenuous  and  toilsome  endeavours  to  raise  their 
country  from  her  state  of  prostration ;  chafed  and 
goaded  by  the  misrepresentations  of  their  motives,  and 
the  reproaches  of  their  adversaries,  and  imputing  to 
them  in  turn,  deliberate  and  settled  purposes  to  dis- 
solve the  Union,  and  resort  to  anarchy  for  the  repair  of 
ruined  fortunes — distrusted  even  the  efficacy  of  the 
Constitution  itself,  and  with  a  weakened  confidence  in 
the  virtue  of  the  people,  were  inclining  to  the  opinion, 
that  the  only  practicable  substitute  for  it  would  be  a 
government  of  greater  energy  than  that  presented  by 
the  Convention.  There  were  among  them  numerous 
warm  and  sincere  admirers  of  the  British  Constitution; 


57 

disposed  to  confide  rather  to  the  inherent  strength  of 
the  government  than  to  the  self-evident  truths  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  for  the  preservation  of 
the  rights  of  property  and  perhaps  of  persons — and 
-with  these  discordant  feelings  and  antagonizing  opin- 
ions, were  intermingled  on  both  sides  individual  inter- 
ests and  ambitions,  counteracting  each  other  as  in  the 
conduct  and  management  of  human  aifairs  they  always 
have  and  always  will — not  without  a  silent  and  secret 
mixture  of  collateral  motives  and  impulses,  from  the 
domestic  intercourse  of  society,  for  which  the  legisla- 
tor is  not  competent  t<j  provide,  and  the  effect  of  which 
not  intuition  itself  can  foresee. 

The  same  calm,  but  anxious  and  even  distrusting 
contemplation  of  the  prospect  before  him,  and  of  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  which  he  was  destined  to  en- 
counter in  his  new  career,  followed  him  after  he  re- 
ceived the  annunciation  of  his  election,  and  the  sum- 
mons to  repair  to  his  post.  The  moment  of  his  depar- 
ture from  the  residence  of  his  retirement,  was  thus 
recorded  in  his  diary  :  "About  ten  o'clock  I  bade  adieu 
to  Mount  Vernon,  to  private  life,  and  to  domestic  feli- 
city ;  and  with  a  mind  oppressed  with  more  anxious  and 
painful  sensations,  than  I  have  words  to  express,  set  out 
for  New  York — with  the  best  disposition  to  render  ser- 
vice to  my  country  in  obedience  to  its  call,  but  with 
less  hope  of  answering  its  expectations." 

His  progress  from  Mount  Vernon  to  New  York,  was 
one  triumphal  procession.  At  Alexandria,  at  George- 
town, at  Philadelphia,  at  Trenton,  at  Brunswick,  at  the 

8 


58 

borders  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  at  Elizabethtown 
Point,  he  was  surrounded,  addressed,  escorted,  by 
crowds  of  his  grateful,  confiding-,  hoping,  affectionate 
fellow-citizens,  of  all  classes,  of  both  sexes,  of  every 
age  and  condition,  showering  upon  him  in  every  vari- 
ety of  form  demonstrations  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
attachment.  Corporations  of  magistrates  addressed 
him  in  strains  of  pious,  patriotic,  and  fervid  eloquence. 
The  soldiers  of  their  country,  in  the  prime  of  life,  in 
the  pride  and  pomp  of  war,  but  in  the  circumstance  of 
honourable  peace,  preceded  him  as  a  guard  of  orna- 
ment and  of  glory.  At  his  passage  over  the  Schuylkill 
bridge,  a  crown  of  unfading  laurel  was  unconsciously 
to  himself,  dropped  by  a  blooming  boy  from  a  thickly 
laurelled  arch  upon  his  head.  At  Trenton,  he  was 
welcomed  by  a  band  of  aged  matrons  commemorating  his 
noble  defence  of  them,  thirteen  years  before  on  that 
spot,  at  the  turning  tide  of  the  War  of  Independence  — 
while  their  virgin  daughters  strewed  the  path  before 
him  with  flowers,  and  chanting  a  song  like  that  of  Mir- 
iam, hailed  him  as  their  protector,  who  had  been  the 
defender  of  their  mothers.  A  committee  of  Congress 
met  him  on  his  approach  to  the  Point,  where  a  richly 
ornamented  barge  of  thirteen  oars,  manned  by  thirteen 
branch  pilots  of  your  own  harbour,  prepared  by  your 
forefathers,  then  the  inhabitants  of  your  bright-starred 
city,  was  in  waiting  to  receive  him.  In  this  barge  he 
embarked.  But  the  bosom  of  the  waters  around  her, 
as  she  swept  along,  was  as  populous  as  had  been  the 
shores.  The  garish  streamers  floated  upon  the  gale — 


59 

songs  of  enchantment  resounded  from  boat  to  boat,  in- 
termingled with  the  clashing  of  cymbals,  with  the  echo- 
ing of  horns,  with  the  warbling  of  the  flute,  and  the 
mellowing  tones  of  the  clarionet,  weakened,  but  soften- 
ed as  if  into  distance,  by  the  murmur  of  the  breeze  and 
the  measured  dashing  of  the  waters  from  the  oars,  till 

on  reaching  your  city  ! but  let  his  own 

diary  record  the  emotions  of  his  soul :  "  The  display  of 
boats," —  I  quote  from  his  biographer,  the  lamented  late 
Chief  Justice  Marshall, — "  which  attended  and  joined  on 
this  occasion,  some  with  vocal,  and  others  with  instru- 
mental music  on  board,  the  decorations  of  the  ships,  the 
roar  of  cannon,  and  the  loud  acclamations  of  the 
people,  which  rent  the  sky  as  I  passed  along  the 
wharves,  filled  my  mind  with  sensations  as  PAINFUL 
(contemplating  the  reverse  of  this  scene,  which  may 
be  the  case  after  all  my  labours  .to  do  good)  as  they 
were  pleasing." 

How  delightful  is  it,  my  beloved  countrymen,  on  this 
festive  day  of  jubilee,  commemorating  that  day  so  preg- 
nant with  your  weal  or  wo,  and  with  that  of  your  chil- 
dren's children,  how  delightful  is  it  at  the  distance  of 
fifty  years  from  that  day  of  promised  blessings  and  of 
anticipated  disappointments,  to  reflect  that  all  the  fairest 
visions  of  hope  were  to  be  more  than  realized,  and  all  the 
apprehensions  of  wary  prudence  and  self-distrusting 
wisdom  more  than  dissipated  and  dispelled. 

Yes,  my  countrymen,  we  have  survived  to  this  day 
of  jubilee,  and  the  only  regret  which  shades  the  sober 
certainty  of  waking  bliss,  with  which  he  who  now  ad- 


60 

dresses  you,  turns  back  the  retrospective  eye  upon  the 
long  career  between  that  time  and  the  present,  is  the 
imperfection  of  his  power  to  delineate  with  a  pencil  of 
phosphorus,  the  contrast  between  the  national  condition 
of  your  forefathers  at  that  day,  as  it  had  been  allotted  to 
them  by  the  articles  of  confederation,  and  your  present 
state  of  associated  existence,  as  it  has  been  shaped  and 
modified  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  ad- 
ministered by  twenty-five  biennial  Congresses,  and  eight 
Presidents  of  the  United  States. 

By  the  adoption  and  organization  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  these  principles  had  been  settled  : — 

1.  That  the  affairs  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
were  thenceforth  to  be  administered,  not  by  a  confeder- 
acy, or  mere  league  of  friendship  between  the  sovereign 
states,  but  by  a  government,  distributed  into  the   three 
great  departments — legislative,  judicial,  and  executive. 

2.  That  the  powers  of  government  should  be  limited 
to  concerns  interesting  to  the  whole  people,  leaving  the 
internal  administration  of  each  state,  in  peace,  to  its  own 
constitution    and  laws,  provided  that  they  should   be 
republican,  and  interfering  with  them  as  little  as  should 
be  necessary  in  war. 

3.  That  the  legislative  power  of  this   government 
should  be  divided  between  two  assemblies,  one  repre- 
senting directly  the  people  of  the  separate  states  ;  and 
the  other  their  legislatures. 

4.  That   the   executive    power    of   this   government 
should  be  vested  in  one  person  chosen  for  four  years,  with 
certain  qualifications   of  age    and    nativity,    re-eligible 


61 

without  limitation,  and  invested  with  a  qualified  nega- 
tive upon  the  enactment  of.  the  laws. 

5.  That  the  judicial  power  should  consist  of  tribunals 
inferior  and  supreme,  to  be  instituted  and  organized  by 
Congress,  but  to  be  composed  of  persons  holding  their 
offices  during  good  behaviour,  that  is,  removable  only 
by  impeachment. 

The  organization  and  constitution  of  the  subordi- 
nate executive  departments,  were  also  left  to  the  discre- 
tionary power  of  Congress. 

But  the  exact  limits  of  legislative,  judicial,  and  exec- 
utive power,  have  never  been  denned,  and  the  distinc- 
tion between  them  is  so  little  understood  without  refer- 
ence to  certain  theories  of  government,  or  to  specific 
institutions,  that  a  very  intelligent,  well-informed  and 
learned  foreigner,  with  whom  I  once  conversed,  upon 
my  using  the  words  executive  power,  said  to  me,  "  I  sup- 
pose by  the  executive  power,  you  mean  the  power  that 
MAKES  the  laws."  .  ;  ^1 '  .  Nor  is  this  mistake 
altogether  unexampled,  even  among  ourselves ;  exam- 
ples might  be  adduced  in  our  history,  national  and  con- 
federate, in  which  the  incumbents  both  of  judicial  and 
executive  offices  have  mistaken  themselves  for  the  power 
that  makes  the  laws — as  on  the  other  hand  examples 
yet  more  frequent  might  be  cited  of  legislators,  and 
even  legislatures,  who  have  mistaken  themselves  to  be 
judges,  or  executives  supreme. 

The  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  powers,  like 
the  prismatic  colours  of  the  rainbow,  are  entirely  sep- 
arate and  distinct ;  but  they  melt  so  imperceptibly  into 


62 

each  other  that  no  human  eye  can  discern  the  exact 
boundary  line  between  them.  The  broad  features  of 
distinction  between  them  are  perceptible  to  all;  but  per- 
haps neither  of  them  can  be  practically  exercised 
without  occasional  encroachment  upon  the  borders  of  its 
neighbour.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has 
not  pretended  to  confine  either  of  the  great  departments 
of  its  government  exclusively  within  its  own  limits. 
Both  the  senate  and  the  house  of  representatives  possess, 
and  occasionally  exercise,  both  judicial  and  executive 
powers,  and  the  president  has  at  all  times  a  qualified  nega- 
tive upon  legislation,  and  a  judicial  power  of  remission. 
To  complete  the  organization  of  the  government  by 
the  institution  of  the  chief  executive  departments  and 
the  establishment  of  judicial  courts,  was  among  the  first 
duties  of  Congress.  The  constitution  had  provided  that 
all  the  public  functionaries  of  the  Union,  not  only  of  the 
general  but  of  all  the  state  governments,  should  be  un- 
der oath  or  affirmation  for  its  support.  The  homage  of 
religious  faith  was  thus  superadded  to  all  the  obligations 
of  temporal  law,  to  give  it  strength  ;  and  this  confirma- 
tion of  an  appeal  to  the  responsibilities  of  a  future  om- 
nipotent judge,  was  in  exact  conformity  with  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  —  guarded 
against  abusive  extension  by  a  further  provision, 
that  no  religious  test  should  ever  be  required  as  a  quali- 
fication to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United 
States.  The  first  act  of  the  Congress,  therefore,  was  to 
regulate  and  administer  the  oaths  thus  required  by  the 
Constitution. 


63 

The  Constitution  had  already  "  formed  a  more  perfect 
union  "  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  ;  but  it  was 
not  yet  consummated  or  completed.  The  people  of 
Rhode  Island  had  taken  no  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
Constitution,  and  refused  their  sanction  to  it.  They  had 
virtually  seceded  from  the  Union.  North  Carolina  had 
been  represented  in  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  but 
her  people  had  refused  to  ratify  their  constitutional  act. 

Recent  events  in  our  history,  to  which  I  wish  to  make 
no  unnecessary  allusion,  but  to  which  the  rising  gen- 
eration of  our  country  cannot  and  ought  not  to  close 
their  eyes,  have  brought  again  into  discussion  questions, 
which,  at  the  period  to  which  we  are  now  reverting, 
were  of  the  deepest  and  most  vital  interest  to  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  the  Union  itself.  The  question 
whether  any  one  state  of  the  Union  had  the  right  to 
secede  from  the  confederacy  at  her  pleasure,  was  then 
practically  solved.  The  question  of  the  right  of  the 
people  of  any  one  state,  to  nullify  within  her  borders 
any  legislative  act  of  the  general  government,  was  in- 
volved in  that  of  the  right  of  secession,  without,  how- 
ever, that  most  obnoxious  feature  of  the  modern  doc- 
trine of  nullification  and  secession  —  the  violation  of 
the  plighted  faith  of  the  nullifying  or  seceding  state. 

Rhode  Island  had  not  only  neglected  to  comply  with 
the  requisitions  of  the  confederation-Congress  to  sup- 
ply the  funds  necessary  to  fulfil  the  public  engagements ; 
but  she  alone  had  refused  to  invest  the  Congress  with 
powers  indispensable  for  raising  such  supplies.  She 
had  refused  to  join  in  the  united  effort  to  revivify  the  sus- 


64 

pended  animation  of  the  confederacy,  and  she  still  defied 
the  warning  of  her  sister  states,  that  if  she  persevered 
in  this  exercise  of  her  sovereignty  and  independence, 
they  would  leave  her  alone  in  her  glory,  and  take  up 
their  march  in  united  column  without  her.  North 
Carolina,  not  more  remiss  than  her  sister  states  in 
the  fulfilment  of  her  obligations,  after  joining  them 
in  the  attempt  to  draw  the  bonds  of  union  closer  to- 
gether by  a  new  compact,  still  refused  to  ratify  it, 
though  recommended  by  the  signature  of  her  own  del- 
egates and  under  a  similar  admonition.  Rhode  Island 
and  North  Carolina  still  held  back.  The  Union  and 
Washington  marched  without  them.  Their  right  to 
secede  was  not  contested.  No  unfriendly  step  to  in- 
jure was  taken ;  no  irritating  measure  to  provoke  them 
was  proposed.  The  door  was  left  open  for  them  to 
return,  whenever  the  proud  and  wayward  spirit  of  state 
sovereignty  should  give  way  to  the  attractions  of  clear- 
er-sighted self-interest  and  kindred  sympathies.  In  the 
first  acts  of  Congress  they  were  treated  as  foreigners, 
but  with  reservations  to  them  of  the  power  to  resume 
the  national  privileges  with  the  national  character,  and 
when  within  two  years  they  did  return,  without  invita- 
tion or  repulsion,  they  were  received  with  open  arms. 

The  questions  of  secession,  or  of  resistance  under 
state  authority,  against  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the 
Union  within  any  state,  can  never  again  be  presented 
under  circumstances  so  favourable  to  the  pretensions 
of  the  separate  state,  as  they  were  at  the  organization 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  At  that  time 


65 

Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina  might  justly  have 
pleaded,  that  their  sister  states  were  bound  to  them  by 
a  compact  into  which  they  had  voluntarily  entered,  with 
stipulations  that  it  should  undergo  no  alteration  but  by 
unanimous  consent.  That  the  Constitution  was  a  con- 
federate Union  founded  upon  principles  totally  differ- 
ent, and  to  which  not  only  they  were  at  liberty  to  refuse 
their  assent,  but  which  all  the  other  states  combined, 
could  not  without  a  breach  of  their  own  faith  establish 
among  themselves,  without  the  free  consent  of  all  the 
partners  to  the  prior  contract.  That  the  confederation 
could  not  otherwise  be  dissolved,  and  that  by  adhering 
to  it,  they  were  only  performing  their  own  engage- 
ments with  good  faith,  and  claiming  their  own  unques- 
tionable rights. 

The  justification  of  the  people  of  the  eleven  states, 
which  had  adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  that  provision  of  the  Constitution  itself, 
which  had  prescribed  that  the  ratification  of  nine  states 
should  suffice  to  absolve  them  from  the  bonds  of  the 
old  confederation,  and  to  establish  the  new  Govern- 
ment as  between  themselves,  was  found  in  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  confed- 
eration had  failed  to  answer  the  purposes  for  which 
governments  are  instituted  among  men.  Its  powers 
or  its  impotence  operated  to  the  destruction  of  those 
ends,  which  it  is  the  object  of  government  to  promote. 
The  people,  therefore — who  h  ad  made  it  their  own  only  by 
their  acquiescence  —  acting  under  their  responsibility 
to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  absolved  them- 

9 


66 

selves  from  the  bonds  of  the  old  confederation,  and 
bound  themselves  by  the  new  and  closer  ties  of  the 
Constitution.  In  performing  that  act,  they  had  felt  the 
duty  of  obtaining  the  co-operation  to  it,  of  a  majority  of 
the  whole  people,  by  requiring  the  concurrence  of  ma- 
jorities in  nine  out  of  the  thirteen  states,  and  they  had 
neither  prepared  nor  proposed  any  measure  of  com- 
pulsion, to  draw  the  people  of  any  of  the  possibly  dis- 
senting states  into  the  new  partnership,  against  their 
will.  They  passed  upon  the  old  confederation  the 
same  sentence,  which  they  had  pronounced  in  dissolv- 
ing their  connexion  with  the  British  nation,  and  they 
pledged  their  faith  to  each  other  anew,  to  a  far  closer 
and  more  intimate  connexion. 

It  is  admitted,  it  was  admitted  then,  that  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island,  and  of  North  Carolina,  were  free  to 
reject  the  new  Constitution;  but  not  that  they  could 
justly  claim  the  continuance  of  the  old  Confederation. 
The  law  of  political  necessity,  expounded  by  the  judg- 
ment of  the  sovereign  constituent  people,  responsible 
only  to  God,  had  abolished  that.  The  people  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  of  North  Carolina,  might  dissent  from  the 
more  perfect  union,  but  they  must  acquiesce  in  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  separation. 

Of  that  separation  they  soon  felt  the  inconvenience 
to  themselves,  and  rejoined  the  company  from  which 
they  had  strayed.  The  number  of  the  primitive  States 
has  since  doubled,  by  voluntary  and  earnest  applica- 
tions for  admission.  It  has  often  been  granted  as  a 
privilege  and  a  favour.  Sometimes  delayed  beyond 


67 

the  time  when  it  was  justly  due — and  never  declined 
by  any  one  State  entitled  to  demand  it. 

Yet  the  boundary  line  between  the  constitutional  au- 
thority of  the  General  Government,  and  that  of  the 
separate  States,  was  not  drawn  in  colours  so  distinct 
and  clear,  as  to  have  escaped  diversities  of  opinion,  and 
grave  and  protracted  controversy.     While  the  people 
of  distant  lands,  of  foreign  races,  and  of  other  tongues, 
have  solicited  admittance  to  the  North  American  Union, 
and  have  been  denied,  more  than  once  have  serious 
and  alarming  collisions  of  conflicting  jurisdiction  arisen 
between  the  General   Government,  and  those  of  the 
separate  states,  threatening  the  dissolution  of  the  Uni- 
on itself.     The  right  of  a  single  state,  or  of  several  of 
the  states  in  combination  together,  to  secede  from  the 
Union,  the  right  of  a  single  state,  without  seceding  from 
the  Union,  to  declare  an  act  of  the  General  Congress, 
a  law  of  the  United  States,  null  and  void,  within  the 
borders  of  that  state,  have  both  been  at  various  times, 
and  in  different  sections  of  the  Union,  directly  asserted, 
fervently  controverted,  and  attempted  to  be  carried  into 
execution.     It  once  accomplished  a  change  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  General  Government,  and  then  was 
laid  aside.     It  has  occasionally  wasted  itself  in  abortive 
projects  of  new  confederacies,  and  has  recently  proceed- 
ed to  the  extremity  of  assembling  a  Convention  of  the 
people  of  one  state  in  the  Union,  to  declare  a  law  of  the 
United  States  unconstitutional,  null,  and  void.     But  the 
law  was  nevertheless  executed ;  and  in  this,  as  in  other 
instances,  a  temporary  turbulent  resistance  against  the 


68 

lawful  powers  of  Congress,  Tinder  the  banners  of  State 
sovereignty,  and  State  rights,  is  now  terminating  in  a 
more  devoted  adherence  and  willing  subserviency  to 
the  authority  of  the  Union. 

This  has  been  the  result  of  the  working  of  the  Insti- 
tution, and  although  now,  as  heretofore,  it  has  been  ef- 
fected by  means  and  in  a  manner  so  unforeseen  and 
unexpected,  as  to  baffle  all  human  penetration,  and  to 
take  reflection  itself  by  surprise  ;  yet  the  uniformity  of 
the  result  often  repeated  by  the  experience  of  half  a 
century,  has  demonstrated  the  vast  superiority  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  over  the  Confedera- 
tion, as  a  system  of  Government  to  control  the  tem- 
porary passions  of  the  people,  by  the  permanent  curb  of 
their  own  interest. 

In  the  calm  hours  of  self-possession,  the  right  of  a 
State  to  nullify  an  act  of  Congress,  is  too  absurd  for 
argument,  and  too  odious  for  discussion.  The  right  of 
a  staje  to  secede  from  the  Union,  is  equally  disowned  by 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Nations  acknowledge  no  judge  between  them  upon 
earth,  and  their  Governments  from  necessity,  must  in 
their  intercourse  with  each  other  decide  when  the  fail- 
ure of  one  party  to  a  contract  to  perform  its  obliga- 
tions, absolves  the  other  from  the  reciprocal  fulfilment 
of  his  own.  But  this  last  of  earthly  powers  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  the  freedom  or  independence  of  states,  con- 
nected together  by  the  immediate  action  of  the  people, 
of  whom  they  consist.  To  the  people  alone  is  there 
reserved,  as  well  the  dissolving,  as  the  constituent  pow- 


69 

er,  and  that  power  can  be  exercised  by  them  only  un- 
der the  tie  of  conscience,  binding  them  to  the  retributive 
justice  of  Heaven. 

With  these  qualifications,  we  may  admit  the  same 
right  as  vested  in  the  people  of  every  state  in  the  Union, 
with  reference  to  the  General  Government,  which  was 
exercised  by  the  people  of  the  United  Colonies,  with 
reference  to  the  Supreme  head  of  the  British  empire, 
of  which  they  formed  a  part — and  under  these  limita- 
tions, have  the  people  of  each  state  in  the  Union  a 
right  to  secede  from  the  confederated  Union  itself. 

Thus  stands  the  RIGHT.  But  the  indissoluble 
link  of  union  between  the  people  of  the  several  states 
of  this  confederated  nation,  is  after  all,  not  in  the  right, 
but  in  the  heart.  If  the  day  should  ever  come,  (may 
Heaven  avert  it,)  when  the  affections  of  the  people  of 
these  states  shall  be  alienated  from  each  other ;  when 
the  fraternal  spirit  shall  give  away  to  cold  indifference, 
or  collisions  of  interest  shall  fester  into  hatred,  the 
bands  of  political  association  will  not  long  hold  togeth- 
er parties  no  longer  attracted  by  the  magnetism  of  con- 
ciliated interests  and  kindly  sympathies  ;  and  far  better 
will  it  be  for  the  people  of  the  disunited  states,  to  part 
in  friendship  from  each  other,  than  to  be  held  together 
by  constraint.  Then  will  be  the  time  for  reverting  to 
the  precedents  which  occurred  at  the  formation  and 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  to  form  again  a  more  per- 
fect union,  by  dissolving  that  which  could  no  longer 
bind,  and  to  leave  the  separated  parts  to  be  reunited  by 
the  law  of  political  gravitation  to  the  centre. 


70 

While  the  Constitution  was  thus  accomplishing  the 
first  object  declared  by  the  people  as  their  motive  for 
ordaining  it,  by  forming  a  more  perfect  union,  it  be- 
came the  joint  and  co-ordinate  duty  of  the  legislative 
and  executive  departments,  to  provide  for  the  second 
of  those  objects,  which  involved  within  itself  all  the 
rest,  and  indeed  all  the  purposes  of  government.  For 
justice,  defined  by  the  Institutes  of  Justinian,  as  the 
constant  and  perpetual  will  of  securing  to  every  one 
his  right,  includes  the  whole  duty  of  man  in  the  social 
institutions  of  society,  toward  his  neighbour. 

To  the  establishment  of  this  JUSTICE,  the  joint  and 
harmonious  co-operation  of  the  legislative  and  execu- 
tive departments  was  required,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
providential  incidents  of  the  time,  that  this  zealous  and 
hearty  co-operation  had  been  secured,  by  that  over-ru- 
ling and  universal  popularity  with  which  the  Chief 
Magistrate  was  inducted  into  his  most  arduous  and 
responsible  office. 

It  has  perhaps  never  been  duly  remarked,  that  under 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  the  powers  of  the 
executive  department  explicitly  and  emphatica]ly  con- 
centrated in  one  person,  are  vastly  more  extensive 
and  complicated  than  those  of  the  legislative.  The 
language  of  the  instrument,  in  conferring  legislative 
authority  is,  "^legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall 
be  vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which 
shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives." But  the  executive  trust  it  committed  in  unre- 
stricted terms  :  "  THE  executive  power  shall  be  vested 


71 

in  a  President  of  the  United  States  of  America.''  The 
legislative  powers  of  Congress  are,  therefore,  limited 
to  specific  grants  contained  in  the  Constitution  itself, 
all  restricted  on  one  side  by  the  power  of  internal  le- 
gislation within  the  separate  States,  and  on  the  other, 
by  the  laws  of  nations,  otherwise  and  more  properly 
called  the  rights  of  war  and  peace,  consisting  of  all  the 
rules  of  intercourse  between  independent  nations. 
These  are  not  subject  to  the  legislative  authority  of 
any  one  nation,  and  they  are,  therefore,  not  included 
within  the  powers  of  Congress.  But  the  executive 
power  vested  in  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
confers  upon  him  the  power,  and  enjoins  upon  him 
the  duty,  of  fulfilling  all  the  duties  and  of  exacting  all 
the  rights  of  the  nation  in  her  intercourse  with  all  the 
other  nations  of  the  earth.  The  powers  of  declaring 
war,  of  regulating  commerce,  of  defining  and  punishing 
piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas,  and 
offences  AGAINST  THE  LAW  OF  NATIONS, 
are  among  the  special  grants  to  Congress,  but  over  that 
law  itself,  thus  expressly  recognised,  and  all-compre- 
hensive as  it  is,  Congress  has  no  alterative  power. 
While  the  power  of  executing  it,  is  conferred  in  unlim- 
ited terms  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  exercise  of  this  more  than  dictatorial  power  is 
indeed  controlled,  first,  by  the  participation  of  the  Sen- 
ate in  the  conclusion  of  treaties  and  appointments  to 
office.  Secondly,  by  the  reservation  of  the  discretion- 
ary power  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  refuse 
the  supplies  necessary  for  the  executive  action.  And 


72 

thirdly,  by  the  power  reserved  to  the  house  to  impeach 
the  President  for  mal-administration,  and  to  the  senate 
to  try  that  impeachment,  and  sentence  him  to  removal 
and  to  disqualification  for  official  station  for  ever. 
These  are  great  and  salutary  checks  upon  the  abusive 
application  of  the  granted  power.  But  the  power  is  not 
the  less  granted. 

And  herein  was  the  greatest  and  most  pernicious  de- 
ficiency of  the  articles  of  confederation,  most  effect- 
ively supplied.  The  Congress  of  the  confederation  had 
no  executive  power.  They  could  contract,  but  they  could 
not  perform.  Hence  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  es- 
tablish justice  in  the  intercourse  of  the  nation  with  for- 
eign states.  They  could  neither  exact  the  justice  due 
to  the  country,  nor  fulfil  the  duties  of  justice  to  others, 
and  this  was  the  reason  assigned  by  the  British  govern- 
ment for  declining  to  regulate  the  commerce  between 
the  two  countries  by  treaty. 

The  establishment  of  justice  in  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  nation  and  foreign  powers,  was  thus  pre-em- 
inently committed  to  the  custody  of  one  man,  but  that 
man  was  George  Washington. 

How  far  the  establishment  of  justice,  by  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  abroad  and  at  home, 
was  accomplished  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  can  be  estimated  only  by  a  review  of  the  history 
of  fifty  years.  For  this,  neither  the  time  nor  the  limits 
within  which  this  discourse  must  be  circumscribed,  will 
permit  more  than  a  rapid  and  imperfect  summary. 

The  relations  of  the  United  States  with  the  other  pow- 


73 

ers  of  the  world,  were  then  slight  and  of  trifling  impor- 
tance, in  comparison  with  what  they  were  destined  to  be- 
come. In  their  colonial  state  their  commercial  inter- 
course had  been  restricted  almost  exclusively  to  the 
mother-country.s  Their  political  relations  were  only 
those  of  a  subordinate  dependance  of  a  great  empire. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  recognised  the  Eu- 
ropean law  of  nations,  as  practised  among  Christian  na- 
tions, to  be  that  by  which  they  considered  themselves 
bound,  and  of  which  they  claimed  the  rights.  This  sys- 
tem is  founded  upon  the  principle,  that  the  state  of  na- 
ture between  men  and  between  nations,  is  a  state  of 
peace.  But  there  was  a  Mahometan  law  of  nations, 
which  considered  the  state  of  nature  as  a  state  of  war 
—  an  Asiatic  law  of  nations,  which  excluded  all  foreign- 
ers from  admission  within  the  territories  of  the  state  — 
a  colonial  law  of  nations,  which  excluded  all  foreigners 
from  admission  within  the  colonies  —  and  a  savage 
Indian  law  of  nations,  by  which  the  Indian  tribes  within 
the  bounds  of  the  United  States,  were  under  their  protec- 
tion, though  in  a  condition  of  tindefined  dependance  upon 
the  governments  of  the  separate  states.  With  all  these 
different  communities,  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
were  from  the  time  when  they  had  become  an  independ- 
ent nation,  variously  modified  according  to  the  opera- 
tion of  those  various  laws.  It  was  the  purpose  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  establish  justice  over 
them  all. 

The  commercial  and  political  relations  of  the  Union 

with  the  Christian  European  nations,  were  principally 

10 


74 

with  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain,  and  considera 
bly  with  the  Netherlands  and  Portugal.  With  all  these 
there  was  peace ;  but  with  Britain  and  Spain,  contro- 
versies involving  the  deepest  interests  and  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  nation,  were  fermenting,  and  negociations 
of  the  most  humiliating  character  were  pending,  from 
which  the  helpless  imbecility  of  the  confederation 
afforded  no  prospect  of  relief.  With  the  other  Euro- 
pean states  there  was  scarcely  any  intercourse.  The 
Baltic  was  an  unknown  sea  to  our  navigators,  and  all  the 
rich  and  classical  regions  of  the  Mediterranean  were 
interdicted  to  the  commercial  enterprise  of  our  mer- 
chants, and  the  dauntless  skill  of  our  mariners,  by  the 
Mahometan  merciless  warfare  of  the  Barbary  powers. 
Scarcely  had  the  peace  of  our  independence  been  con- 
cluded, when  three  of  our  merchant-vessels  had  been 
captured  by  the  corsairs  of  Algiers,  and  their  crews, 
citizens  of  the  Union,  had  been  pining  for  years  in 
slavery,  appealing  to  their  country  for  redemption,  in 
vain.  Nor  was  this  all.  By  the  operation  of  this  state  of 
things,  all  the  shores  of  the  Black  sea,  of  the  whole  Med- 
iterranean, of  the  islands  on  the  African  coast,  of  the 
southern  ports  of  France,  of  all  Spain  and  of  Portugal, 
were  closed  against  our  commerce,  as  if  they  had  been 
hermetically  sealed;  while  Britain,  every  where  our  rival 
and  competitor  was  counteracting  by  every  stimulant 
within  her  power  every  attempt  on  our  part  to  com- 
pound by  tribute  with  the  Barbarian  for  peace. 

Great  Britain  had  also  excluded  us  from   all  com- 
Daeree  in  our  own  vessels  with  her  colonies,  and  France, 


76 

notwithstanding-  her  alliance  with  us  during  the  war, 
had  after  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  adopted  the  same 
policy.  She  was  jealous  of  our  aggrandizement,  fearful 
of  our  principles,  linked  with  Spain  in  the  project  of  de- 
barring us  from  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
settled  in  the  determination  to  shackle  us  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  gigantic  powers  which,  with  insidious 
sagacity,  she  foresaw  might  be  abused. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  discouragements,  the  inex- 
tinguishable spirit  of  freedom,  which  had  carried  your 
forefathers  through  the  exterminating  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution, was  yet  unsuppressed.  At  the  very  time  when 
the  nerveless  confederacy  could  neither  protect  nor  re- 
deem their  sailors  from  Algcrine  captivity,  the  floating 
city  of  the  Taho  beheld  the  stripes  and  stars  of  the  Union, 
openingtothe  breeze  from  a  schooner  of  thirty  tons,  and 
inquired  where  was  the  ship  of  which  that  frail  fabric 
was  doubtless  the  tender.  The  Southern  ocean  was 
still  vexed  with  the  harpoons  of  their  whalemen ;  but 
Britain  excluded  their  oil,  by  prohibitory  duties  and  the 
navigation  act,  from  her  markets,  and  the  more  indulgent 
liberality  of  France  would  consent  to  the  illumination 
of  her  cities  by  the  quakers  of  Nantucket,  only  upon 
condition  that  they  should  forsake  their  native  island, 
and  become  the  naturalized  denizens  of  Dunkirk. 

In  the  same  year,  when  the  Convention  at  Philadel- 
phia was  occupied  in  preparing  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  for  the  consideration  of  the  people,  two 
vessels,  called  the  Columbia  and  the  Washington,  fitted 
out  by  a  company  of  merchants  at  Boston,  sailed  upon 


76 

a  voyage  combining  the  circumnavigation  of  the  globe, 
discovery  upon  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  and 
the  trade  with  the  savages  of  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  with  the  celestial  empire  of  China,  all  in  one  under- 
taking. The  result  of  this  voyage  was  the  discovery 
of  the  Columbia  river,  so  named  from  the  ship  which 
first  entered  within  her  capes,  since  unjustly  confound- 
ed with  the  fabulous  Oregon  or  river  of  the  West,  but 
really  securing  to  the  United  States  the  right  of  prior 
discovery,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  the  right  of 
extension  of  our  territory  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  ocean. 

All  this  however  was  but  the  development  of  na- 
tional character  in  the  form  of  private  enterprise.  The 
foreign  affairs  of  the  Union  when  President  Washing- 
ton assumed  the  administration  of  the  executive  power, 
were  in  a  state  of  chaos,  out  of  which  an  orderly  and 
harmonious  world  was  to  be  educed. 

In  conferring  the  executive  power  upon  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  the  Constitution  had  left  its 
subordinate  organization  partly  to  the  discretion  of 
Congress.  It  had  spoken  of  heads  and  chief  officers 
of  the  executive  departments,  but  without  defining  their 
offices,  or  prescribing  their  functions.  Under  the  Rev- 
olutionary Congress,  the  executive  power,  such  as  it 
was,  had  been  exercised  by  committees  of  their  own 
body.  Under  the  confederation  Congress,  by  Secreta- 
ries of  Foreign  Affairs  and  of  War,  and  successively 
by  a  single  financier,  and  by  a  board  of  Commissioners 
of  the  Treasury. 


77 

The  first  Constitutional  Congress,  in  the  true  spirit 
of  the  Constitution  itself,  instituted  three  executive  de- 
partments, each  with  a  single  head,  under  the  denom- 
ination of  Secretaries  of  Foreign  Affairs,  of  the  Treas- 
ury, and  of  War.  There  was  no  Home  Department, 
a  deficiency  wrhich  has  not  yet  been  supplied — but  on 
reconsideration,  the  first  Congress  at  their  first  session, 
combined  the  duties  of  the  Home  Department  with 
those  of  Foreign  Affairs,  by  substituting  a  Department 
and  Secretary  of  State  in  the  place  of  a  Department 
and  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs.  There  was  no 
navy — not  so  much  as  a  barge  —  and  of  course 
no  Navy  Department,  or  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
That  was  to  be  created,  and  the  Department  was  in- 
stituted in  the  second  year  of  the  succeeding  adminis- 
tration. 

In  the  interval,  until  the  organization  of  the  new  de- 
partments, the  Secretaries  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  of 
War,  of  the  confederation  Congress,  continued  by 
order  of  President  Washington  to  execute  the  duties 
of  their  respective  offices. 

During  the  first  Congress  also,  the  Judiciary  Depart- 
ment was  organized  by  the  establishment  of  a  Supreme 
Circuit,  and  District  Courts.  The  Ordinance  for  the 
government  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  was  adapt- 
ed to  the  newly  constituted  Government,  as  was  the 
establishment  of  the  Post  Office. 

In  the  erection  of  the  Executive  Departments  a 
question  arose,  and  was  debated  with  great  earnestness 
and  pertinacity,  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  the  de- 


78 

cision  upon  which,  in  perfect*  conformity  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution,  settled  the  character  of  that  instru- 
ment as  it  has  continued  to  this  day.  The  Constitution 
had  prescribed  that  the  President  should  nominate,  and 
hy  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
should  appoint,  all  the  officers  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  exception  that  Congress  might  by  law  vest 
the  appointment  of  such  inferior  officers  as  they  should 
think  proper  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of 
law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments.  The  Constitu- 
tion had  also  provided,  that  the  President  should  com- 
mission all  the  officers  of  the  United  States  —  and  that 
the  judges  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  courts 
should  hold  their  offices  during  good  behaviour.  But 
it  had  prescribed  no  term  of  duration  to  executive 
offices,  civil  or  military,  nor  how,  nor  by  whom,  nor  for 
what,  they  should  be  removable  from  office.  The  in- 
stitution of  the  first  Executive  Department  gave  rise  to 
that  question.  After  a  long  and  able  discussion,  it  was 
ultimately  settled,  that  by  the  investment  of  the  exec- 
utive power  in  the  President,  and  the  duty  imposed 
upon  him  to  take  care  that  the  laws  should  be  faithful- 
ly executed,  the  discretionary  power  of  removing  all 
subordinate  executive  offices  must  necessarily  be  vest- 
ed in  him ;  and  the  law  was  accordingly  so  expressed. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  this,  like  all  other  discretion- 
ary powers,  is  susceptible  of  great  abuse — but  while 
exercised  as  it  always  must  be,  under  the  powerful  in- 
fluence of  public  opinion,  its  abuse  cannot  be  so  per- 
nicious to  the  welfare  of  the  community,  as  would  be 


79 

a  tenure  of  ministerial  office,  independent  of  the  supe- 
rior, responsible  for  its  faithful  execution. 

Another,  and  perhaps  a  still  more  important  charac- 
ter was  given  by  President  Washington  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  in  all  their  relations  with 
foreign  powers,  by  the  principle  which  he  assumed, 
and  the  example  which  he  set  to  his  successors,  of  re- 
ferring the  ministers  from  foreign  powers,  to  the  head 
of  the  Department  of  State,  for  all  direct  negotiations 
with  which  they  might  be  charged  by  their  govern- 
ments. 

The  Count  de  Moustier  happened  at  that  time  to  be 
the  Minister  of  France  to  the  United  States.  He  had 
been  appointed  by  the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI.,  in  the 
last  days  of  his  absolute  power.  A  spark,  emitted 
from  the  self-evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, had  fallen  into  the  powder-magazine  of  mon- 
archy, and  inexpressibly  terrible  was  the  explosion 
about  to  ensue.  Among  the  last  evidences  of  the  anti- 
republican  spirit  of  the  Bourbon  dynasty,  was  an  effort 
of  this  plenipotentiary  minister  to  degrade  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  newly  constituted  Republic  to  an 
official  level  with  himself,  a  minister  of  the  second 
rank,  commissioned  by  an  European  king.  Imme- 
diately after  the  inauguration  of  President  Washing- 
ton, the  Count  de  Moustier  addressed  a  note  directly  to 
him,  requesting  a  personal  interview.  On  receiving 
for  answer  that  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  was 
the  officer  with  whom  his  official  communications 
should  still  be  held,  he  persisted  in  his  application  for 


80 

a  personal  conference  with  .Jthe  President,  who  uniting 
firmness  of  purpose  with  undeviating  courtesy  of  forms, 
indulgently  granted  his  request.  He  received  the  Count 
in  a  private  interview,  and  listened  for  an  hour  to 
'an  argument,  fortified  by  a  confidential  private  letter 
which  the  royal  envoy  had  the  assurance  to  deliver  to 
him,  in  which,  under  the  base  pretension  of  a  supposed 
unfriendly  disposition  of  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs towards  France,  he  urged  the  adoption  of  a  prac- 
tice of  direct  inter-communication  between  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  and  himself,  in  all  his  diplo- 
matic negotiations,  without  the  intervention  of  any  third 
person  whomsoever. 

With  a  perfect  preservation  of  patience  and  of  good 
humour,  the  President  answered  his  reasoning  and  re- 
ferred him  again  for  his  future  official  transactions  to  the 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  who,  he  assured  him,  en- 
tertained no  feelings  towards  France  but  such  as  would 
render  entire  justice  to  her  rights  and  her  representative. 
The  Count  de  Moustier  fell  back  into  his  proper  station, 
and  very  soon  after  was  recalled  by  his  master,  and  had 
his  place  supplied  by  the  representative  of  another 
shade  in  the  transition  of  France  from  an  arbitrary 
monarchy  to  a  portentious  and  short-lived  nominal  de- 
mocracy. 

The  pretension  that  the  President  of  the  United 
States  was  to  be  considered  by  the  ministers  of  foreign 
nations,  not  as  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  country,  but 
as  ranking  as  a  minister  of  state,  subordinate  to  the  sov- 
ereign in  European  governments,  was  not  confined  to  the 


81 

Count  de  Moustier.  It  was  afterward  reproduced  in 
still  more  offensive  form,  by  the  first  minister  from 
France  in  her  republican  transformation.  It  was  then 
again  repelled  and  finally  withdrawn.  Since  then  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  their  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations  represents  them  as  their  chief,  and  the 
ministers  of  foreign  powers  negotiate  with  the  Secreta- 
ry of  State  under  his  direction,  and  instructions. 

At  the  same  time,  President  Washington  fully  under- 
stood that  by  the  investment  of  the  executive  power,  he 
was  authorized  to  enter  directly  into  negociation  with 
foreign  nations,  formally  or  informally,  through  the  de- 
partment of  State,  or  by  agents  privately  accredited  by 
himself  at  his  discretion.  The  state  of  the  public  relations 
of  Great  Britain  was  then  such  as  rendered  it  proper  for 
him  to  resume  the  political  intercourse  with  her  govern- 
ment, in  the  direct,  personal,  and  informal,  rather  than 
the  regular  official  manner.  Shortly  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  peace  of  independence,  the  confederation- 
Congress  had  appointed  a  minister  plenipotentiary  to 
Great  Britain,  and  had  authorized  a  treaty  of  commerce 
on  the  most  liberal  terms,  to  be  negotiated  with  her. 
The  minister  had  been  graciously  received ;  but  mutu- 
al reproaches,  too  well  founded  on  both  sides,  of  a 
failure  to  fulfil  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  peace, 
had  left  a  rankling  of  animosity  on  both  sides.  The 
British  government  had  declined  to  conclude  a  com 
mercial  treaty,  while  the  engagements  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  remained  unfulfilled  ;  and  the  impotence  of  the 

confederation-Congress  disabled  them  from  the  fulfil- 

11 


82 


mentof  the  stipulations  on  our  part  _  particularly  with 
regard  to  debts,  the  payment  of  which  had  been  sus- 
pended by  the  Revolutionary  war.     After  a  fruitless 
m,ssion  of  three  years,  the  minister  of  the  United  States 
had  returned  home,  and  no  minister  from  Great  Britain 
had  been  accredited  to  the  Congress  in  return.     Imme- 
diately after  the  close  of  the  first  session  of  the  first 
constitutional  Congress,  during  which  the  judicial  depart- 
ment of  the  government  had  been  organized,  and  John 
Jay,  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  to  the  preceding 
Congress,  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States* 
and  before  Thomas  Jefferson,  appointed   Secretary  of' 
State  m  his  absence,  had  repaired  to  his  post,  President 
Washzngton,  on  the  13th  of  October,  1789,  wrote  two 
ters  to  Gouverneur  Morris,  then  in  France,  but  re- 
cently before,  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion which  had  formed  the  Constitution,  and  at  an  earlier 
ate,  a  member  of  the  confederation-Conors      One 
of  these  letters  was  to  serve  him  as  a  credential  to  hold 
conferences  with  the  cabinet  ministry  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  other  a  letter  of  instructions  upon  the  topics  to 
be  discussed  with  them. 

The  glance  of  a  moment  at  the  relative  position  of 
the  two  countries  at  that  time,  will  disclose  to  an  atten- 
ive  observer  the  peculiar  propriety  of  the  mode  adopt- 
ed by  President  Washington,  and  of  the  selection  of 
the  agent  for  entering  upon  this  negotiation.      It  will 
>rve  also  to  illustrate  the    wisdom  of  the  extensive 
grant  of  the  executive  power  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
Uwted  States,  to  a  single  hand.     The  self-respect  of 


the  nation  would  have  been  humiliated  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world,  by  the  public  and  formal  appointment  of  a 
second  minister,  after  the  return  home  of  the  first,  with- 
out the  reciprocation  of  courtesy  by  the  appointment  of 
a  minister  from  Great  Britain  to  the  United  States. 
There  was  no  diplomatic  intercourse  between  the  two 
countries  ;  yet  there  were  great  interests  involving  the 
peace  between  them,  and  urgently  calling  for  adjust- 
ment. The  commercial  intercourse  between  them  was 
very  considerable ;  but  for  want  of  a  countervailing 
power  of  regulation  on  our  part,  it  was  left  at  the  mercy 
of  the  orders  of  the  British  king  in  council,  the  predom- 
inating spirit  of  which  influenced  by  the  loyalist  refu- 
gees of  the  Revolution,  was  envious,  acrimonious,  and 
vindictive.  The  forts  on  the  Canadian  lakes,  the  keys 
to  our  western  territories,  and  the  stimulants  to  savage 
warfare,  were  withheld,  in  violation  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  ;  while  by  the  institution  of  the  judicial  courts  of 
the  Union,  the  door  was  open  for  the  recovery  of  British 
debts,  and  the  pretext  for  the  detention  of  the  posts  was 
removed.  It  was  necessary  to  advise  the  British  gov- 
ernment of  the  change  which  had  been  effected  in  our  na- 
tional institutions,  and  of  the  duty  of  the  newgovernment 
to  exact  justice  from  foreign  nations,  while  ready  to  dis- 
pense it  on  the  part  of  the  nation  to  them.  Yet,  as  peace 
was  of  all  external  blessings,  that  of  which  our  country  at 
that  juncture  most  needed  the  continuance,  it  was  a  dic- 
tate of  prudence  to  take  no  hasty  public  step  which 
might  commit  the  honour  of  the  country  and  complicate 
the  entanglement  from  which  she  was  to  be  extricated, 


84 

Mr.  Morris  was  a  distinguished  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  already  in  Europe — 'well  known  in  England, 
where  he  had  relatives  in  the.  royal  service.  He  had 
been  an  active  member  of  the  Convention  which  had 
formed  the  Constitution  —  a  secret  mission  committed 
to  him  would  attract  no  premature  public  notice  by  any 
personal  movement  on  his  part,  and  whatever  the  re- 
sult of  it  might  be,  the  government  of  the  United 
States  itself  would  be  uncommitted  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  and  free  to  pursue  such  further  course,  as  jus- 
tice might  require,  and  policy  might  recommend. 

Mr.  Morris  executed  his  trust  with  faithfulness  and 
ability.  In  personal  conference  with  the  Duke  of 
Leeds,  then  the  British  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  with  William  Pitt,  first  Lord  of  the  Treas- 
ury and  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  by  corres- 
pondence with  the  former,  he  made  known  to  the 
British  government  the  feelings,  purposes,  and  expec- 
tations of  the  newly  organized  government  of  the 
United  States  with  regard  to  Great  Britain  —  and  he 
ascertained  the  dispositions,  the  doubts  and  the  reluc- 
tances of  the  British  cabinet  toward  the  United  States. 
They  still  declined  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  of  com- 
merce. They  parried,  by  counter-complaint  of  the 
non-execution  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  the  demand  for 
the  surrender  of  the  western  posts — but  they  prom- 
ised, with  no  small  hesitation,  some  supercilious  cour- 
tesy and  awkward  apologies  for  delay,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Minister  to  the  United  States,. 

This  negotiation  occupied  more  than  one  yejir  of 


83 

time — and  in  February,  1791,  just  before  the  expira- 
tion of  the  first  Constitutional  Congress,  President 
Washington  communicated  to  the  Senate  in  secret  ses- 
sion the  fact  of  its  existence,  and  the  correspondence 
by  which  it  had  been  conducted.  In  the  Message 
transmitting  these  documents  to  the  Senate,  he  said : 
"I  have  thought  it  proper  to  give  you  this  information, 
as  it  might  at  some  time  have  influence  on  matters 
under  your  consideration." 

While  the  negotiation  was  in  progress,  a  controversy 
respecting  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  bordering  upon  the  British  provinces,  then  con- 
fined to  the  question  of  what  river  had  been  intended 
in  the  treaty  of  peace,  by  the  name  of  the  St.  Croix, 
was  kindling  a  border  war,  and  complicating  the  dif- 
ficulties to  be  adjusted  by  negotiation. 

In  the  summer  of  1791,  the  promised  Minister  Plen- 
ipotentiary from  Great  Britain  to  the  United  States, 
was  sent  in  the  person  of  Mr.  George  Hammond,  who 
had  been  the  secretary  to  David  Hartley,  in  the  nego- 
tiation of  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace  in  1783.  Mr. 
Hammond  however  had  only  powers  to  negotiate,  but 
not  to  conclude — to  complain,  but  not  to  adjust — to 
receive  propositions,  but  not  to  accept  them.  With 
him  a  full  discussion  was  had  of  all  the  causes  of  com- 
plaint subsisting  between  the  parties.  In  the  mean- 
time a  change  had  come  over  the  whole  political  sys- 
tem of  Europe.  The  principles  proclaimed  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  as  at  the  foundation  of 
*U  lawful  government,  bad  been  sapping  the  founda- 


tions  of  all  the  governments  founded  on  the  unlimited 
sovereignty  of  force — the  absolute  monarchy  of  France 
was  crumbling  into  ruin  ;  a  wild  and  ferocious  anarchy, 
under  the  banners  of  unbridled  Democracy  was  taking 
its  place,  and  between  the  furies  of  this  frantic  multi- 
tude, and  the  agonies  of  immemorial  despotism,  a  war 
of  desolation  and  destruction  was  sweeping  over  the 
whole  continent  of  Europe.  In  this  war  all  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  American  people  were  on  the  side  of 
France  and  of  freedom,  but  the  freedom  of  France 
wTas  not  of  the  genuine  breed.  A  phantom  of  more 
than  gigantic  form  had  assumed  the  mask  and  the  garb 
of  freedom,  and  substituted  for  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  anarchy  within  and  con- 
quest without.  The  revolution  of  the  whole  world 
was  her  war-cry,  and  the  overthow  of  all  established 
governments  her  avowed  purpose. 

Under  the  impulses  of  this  fiend,  France  had  plunged 
into  wrar  with  all  Europe,  and  murdered  her  king,  his 
queen,  his  sister,  and  numberless  of  his  subjects  and 
partisans,  with  or  without  the  fonns  of  law,  by  the 
butchery  of  mock  tribunals,  or  the  daggers  of  a  blood- 
thirsty rabble.  In  this  death-struggle  between  invet- 
erate abuse  and  hurly-burly  innovation,  it  is  perhaps 
impossible  even  now  to  say  which  party  had  been  the 
first  aggressor ;  but  France  had  been  first  invaded  by 
the  combined  forces  of  Austria  and  Prussia,  and  under 
banners  of  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity,  had  become 
an  armed  nation  to  expel  them  from  her  borders.  The 
partialities  of  the  American  people  still  sympathized 


87 

with  France.  They  saw  that  her  cause  was  the  cause 
of  national  independence.  They  believed  her  profes- 
sions of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity ;  and  when  the 
same  Convention  which  had  declared  France  a  repub- 
lic, and  deposed  and  put  to  death  her  king,  declared 
war  against  the  kings  of  Great  Britain  and  Spain,  shock- 
ed as  they  were  at  the  merciless  extermination  of  their 
ancient  great  arid  good  ally,  they  still  favoured  at  heart 
the  cause  of  France,  especially  when  in  conflict  under 
the  three-coloured  banners  of  liberty,  equality,  fra- 
ternity, with  their  ancient  common  enemy  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary war,  the  British  king,  and  with  their  more 
recent,  but  scarcely  less  obnoxious  foe,  the  king  of  Spain. 
At  the  breaking  out  of  this  war,  Washington  and  his 
administration,  and  with  them,  the  Constitution,  and  peace 
and  existence  of  the  Union,  were  brought  into  a  new, 
critical,  and  most  perilous  position.  From  the  very 
day  of  his  inauguration,  notwithstanding  his  unparallel- 
ed personal  popularity,  a  great,  active,  and  powerful 
opposition  to  his  ad  ministration  had  arisen,  consisting  at 
i  Jmost  universally  of  the  party  which  had  opposed 
tin  adoption  of  the  Constitution  itself — then  known  by 
the  name  of  anti-federalists.  The  most  plausible  and 
the  most  popular  of  all  the  objections  to  the  Constitution, 
had  been  the  accumulation  of  power  in  the  office  of  the 
President.  His  exercise  of  those  powers  was  watched 
with  a  jealous  and  suspicious  eye  —  trifles  lighter  than 
air  in  his  personal  deportment  and  his  domestic  estab- 
lishment, were  treasured  up,  and  doled  out  in  whispers 
and  surmises,  that  he  was  affecting  the  state,  and  adopt- 


I 


83 

ing  the  forms  of  a  monarchy,  and  when  this  war  be- 
tween the  new-born  republic  of  France,  and  our  old  ty- 
rant, George  the  Third,  blazed  out,  the  party  opposed 
to  Washington's  administration,  seized  upon  it,  to  em- 
barrass and  counteract  his  policy,  by  arraying  the  pas- 
sions of  the  people,  their  ardent  love  of  liberty,  the 
generous  feeling  of  their  national  gratitude,  their  still 
rankling  resentments  against  the  beldame  step-mother 
Britain,  and  their  soreness  under  the  prevaricating 
chicanery  of  Spain,  at  once  in  favour  of  France  and 
against  Washington. 

The  treaty  of  alliance  with  France,  of  6th  February, 
1778,  had  stipulated,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
a  guarantee  to  the  king  of  France  of  the  possessions  of 
the  crown  of  France  in  America  —  and  one  of  the  first  in- 
cidents of  the  war  of  republican  France  with  Britain, 
was  a  British  expedition  against  the  French  colonies  in 
the  West  Indies. 

By  the  laws  of  nations,  the  duty  of  the  United  States 
in  this  war  was  neutrality  —  and  their  rights  were  those 
of  neutrality.  Their  unquestionable  policy  and  their 
vital  interest  was  also  neutrality.  But  the  maintenance 
of  the  rights,  depended  upon  the  strict  performance  of 
the  duties  of  neutrality. 

A  grave  question  immediately  presented  itself, 
whether  the  guarantee  of  the  French  possessions  in 
America  to  the  king  and  crown  of  France  in  1778,  wras 
so  binding  upon  the  United  States,  as  to  require  them 
to  make  good  that  guarantee  to  the  French  republic 
by  joining  her  in  the  war  against  Great  Britain. 


89 

The  neutrality  of  the  United  States  was  in  the  most 
imminent  danger.  The  war  between  France  and  Brit- 
ain, and  Spain  and  the  Netherlands,  was  a  maritime 
war.  In  the  spasms  of  the  Revolutionary  convulsion,  the 
new  republic  had  sent  to  the  United  States  an  incendia- 
ry minister,  with  a  formal  declaration,  that  they  did  not 
claim  the  execution  of  the  guarantee  in  the  treaty  of 
1778,  but  stocked  with  commissions  for  a  military 
expedition  against  the  Spanish  territories  on  our  west- 
ern borders,  and  for  privateers  to  be  fitted  out  in  our 
ports,  and  to  cruize  against  all  the  nations  with  which 
France  was  at  war. 

All  the  daring  enterprise,  the  unscrupulous  ambition, 
the  rapacious  avarice  floating  in  the  atmosphere  of  this 
Union,  were  gathering  to  a  head,  and  enlisting  in  this 
cause  of  republican  France.  The  commissions  for  the 
military  expedition  against  Louisiana,  were  distributed 
with  so  little  secresy,  that  the  whole  conspiracy  was 
soon  detected,  exposed,  and  defeated.  But  the  priva- 
teering commissions  were  accepted  in  many  of  our  sea- 
ports, and  citizens  of  the  United  States  sallied  forth 
from  their  harbours,  under  the  shelter  of  neutrality,  in 
vessels,  built,  armed,  equipped,  and  owned  there,  against 
the  defenceless  commerce  of  friendly  nations,  and  re- 
turned in  three  days,  laden  with  their  spoils,  under  the 
uniform  of  the  French  republic,  her  three-coloured 
cockade,  and  her  watchwords  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fra- 
ternity —  transformed  into  French  citizens,  by  the  plen- 
ipotentiary diploma,  and  disposing  of  their  plunder  under 

the  usurped  jurisdiction  of  a  French  republican  consul. 

12 


90 

At  this  crisis  Washington  submitted  to  his  confiden- 
tial advisers,  the  heads  of  the  Executive  Departments, 
a  series  of  questions  involving  the  permanent  system 
of  policy,  to  be  pursued  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  the  nation  in 
this  new  and  difficult  position.  The  measure  imme- 
diately contemplated  by  him  as  urgently  required,  was 
the  issuing  a  proclamation  declaring  the  neutrality  of 
the  United  States  in  the  war,  just  kindled  in  Europe ; 
but  the  obligation  of  the  treaties  with  France,  and  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  guarantee,  were  specially  involved 
in  the  propriety  and  the  particular  purport  of  the  proc- 
lamation. On  this  occasion,  a  radical  difference  of  opin- 
ion equally  dividing  the  four  members  of  the  adminis- 
tration, not  upon  the  expediency  of  the  proclamation, 
but  upon  the  contingent  obligation  of  the  guarantee, 
aggravated  intensely  the  embarrassments  and  difficul- 
ties which  the  temperance,  the  fortitude,  and  the  good 
fortune  of  Washington  were  destined  to  encounter  and 
to  surmount. 

The  conduct  of  Great  Britain,  the  leading  party  to 
the  war  with  republican  France,  served  only  to  multi- 
ply and  to  sharpen  the  obstructions  with  which  his  path 
was  beset,  and  the  perplexities  of  his  situation.  In  the 
origin  of  the  war,  the  first  fountains  of  human  society- 
had  been  disturbed  and  poisoned.  The  French  Con- 
vention had  issued  a  decree,  stimulating  the  people  of 
all  the  countries  around  her  to  rebellion  against  their 
own  governments,  with  a  promise  of  the  support  of 
France.  Thev  had  threatened  an  invasion  of  En- 


91 

gland,  in  the  name  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity, 
to  fraternize  with  the  people  of  the  British  Islands  in 
a  revolt  against  their  king ;  and  strange  and  incredible 
as  it  may  sound  in  your  ears,  there  were  elements 
within  the  bosoms  of  the  British  islands,  of  no  incon- 
siderable magnitude,  prepared  to  join  and  assist  the  thre  at- 
ened  invader  in  this  unhallowed  purpose.  A  decree  of 
the  National  Convention  had  forbidden  their  armies  to 
make  any  prisoners  in  battle  with  their  foes,  or  in  other 
words  to  give  quarters  to  the  vanquished  in  arms. 
The  mass  of  the  British  nation  was  exasperated  to 
madness ;  and  their  government  deliberately  determined, 
that  such  an  enemy  was  not  entitled  to  the  ordinary 
mitigations  of  war :  that  France  had  put  herself  out 
of  the  pale  of  civilized  nations,  and  that  no  commerce 
of  neutral  nations  with  her  was  to  be  tolerated.  Be- 
sides and  yet  more  unjustifiable  than  this,  from  the 
very  commencement  of  the  war,  the  British  govern- 
ment had  indulged  their  naval  officers  in  the  out- 
rageous and  atrocious  practice  of  impressing  men  from 
the  vessels  of  the  United  States  upon  the  high  seas — 
claiming  it  against  the  principles  of  her  own  Constitu- 
tion no  less  than  against  the  principles  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  as  a  right  with  regard  to  her 
own  subjects,  and  leaving  the  question  of  fact,  whether 
the  impressed  seaman  was  or  was  not  a  British  sub- 
ject, to  the  irresponsible  discretion  or  caprice  of  every 
midshipman  in  her  navy.  The  practice  was  not  less 
provoking,  than  the  pretension  was  insolent  and  unjust. 
The  capture  by  a  naval  armament  from  Great  Britain, 


92 

of  several  French  islands  in 'the  West  Indies,  gave  oc- 
casion to  another  conflict  of  belligerent  pretensions  and 
neutral  rights.  During  the  peace  that  followed  the 
war  of  the  American  Revolution,  France  under  the 
usual  maxims  of  European  Colonial  policy,  had  con- 
fined the  commerce  of  her  American  possessions  to 
herself.  When  the  war  came,  her  own  merchant-ves- 
sels were  excluded  by  the  British  maritime  supremacy 
from  the  navigation  of  the  ocean.  The  French  is- 
lands were  then  opened  to  the  neutral  commerce,  and 
hence  it  was  that  the  French  Executive  Council  for- 
bore to  claim  the  guarantee  stipulated  by  the  treaty  of 
1778  —  aware  that  the  neutral  commerce  of  the  United 
States  would  be  more  useful  to  the  islands,  than  any 
assistance  that  we  could  give  for  their  defence  against 
Great  Britain  by  war.  Upon  the  opening  of  the  is- 
lands, numerous  vessels  of  the  United  States  crowded 
into  their  ports,  for  the  enjoyment  not  only  of  a  profita- 
ble direct  trade,  but  to  be  freighted  for  the  direct  com- 
merce between  the  Colonies  and  France  herself.  The 
commanders  of  the  British  maritime  expedition  broke 
up  this  trade,  and  captured  every  vessel  engaged  in  it 
upon  which  they  could  lay  their  hands,  whether  in 
ports  which  surrendered  to  their  arms,  or  upon  the  high 
seas. 

The  temperature  of  the  public  mind  in  calm  and 
quiet  times,  is  like  the  climate  of  the  lofty  table-lands 
of  the  equator,  a  perpetual  spring.  Such  are  the 
times  in  which  we  live,  and  were  it  not  for  the  distant 
vision  of  a  Chimborazo  with  eternal  sunshine  over  its 


93 

head,  and  eternal  frost  upon  its  brow,  or  of  a  neigh- 
bouring jEtna  or  Vesuvius  bursting  from  time  to  time 
with  subterranean  fires,  and  pouring  down  from  their 
summits  floods  of  liquid  lava,  to  spread  ruin  and  de- 
struction* over  the  vales  below,  elementary  snows  and 
boiling  water-courses  would  be  objects  scarcely  within 
the  limits  of  human  conception.  At  such  times,  ima- 
gination in  her  wildest  vagaries  can  scarcely  conceive 
the  transformations  of  temper,  the  obliquities  of  intel- 
lect, the  perversions  of  moral  principle  effected  by 
junctures  of  high  and  general  excitement.  Many  of 
you,  gentlemen,  have  known  the  Republican  plenipo- 
tentiary of  whom  I  have  here  spoken,  settled  down 
into  a  plain  Republican  fanner  of  your  own  state,  of 
placid  humour,  of  peaceable  demeanour,  addicted  to 
profound  contemplation,  passing  a  long  life  in  philo- 
sophical retirement,  devising  ingenious  mechanical  in- 
ventions, far  from  all  the  successive  convulsions  of  his 
native  land,  and  closing  a  useful  career  as  a  citizen  of 
this  his  adopted  country.  Who  of  you  could  imagine, 
that  this  was  the  same  man,  who  at  the  period  which  I 
am  recalling  to  your  memory,  was  a  Phaeton,  grasping 
at  the  reins  of  the  chariot  of  the  Sun  to  set  the  world 
on  fire.  Who  could  imagine,  that  coming  with  words 
of  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  of  generous  friendship 
and  disinterested  benevolence  upon  his  lips,  he  had 
brought  with  him  like  Albaroni,  a  torch  to  set  fire  to 
all  the  mines.  His  correspondence  with  the  govern- 
ment of  Washington,  is  recorded  upon  the  annals  of 
our  country.  Our  time  will  admit  but  of  a  transient 


94 

allusion  to  it.  You  remember  the  frank  and  dignified 
candour  with  which  he  was  received  by  Washington 
himself;  the  warm-hearted  enthusiasm  with  which, 
as  the  representative  of  the  new  sister  Republic,  he 
was  welcomed  by  the  people ;  and  the  wanton,  las- 
civious courtship  of  the  faction  opposed  to  Washing- 
ton— congenial  spirits  to  the  cannibals,  then  in  the  name 
of  Democracy  ruling  in  France — blistering  him  up  into 
open  defiance,  and  an  appeal  against  Washington  him- 
self, TO  THE  PEOPLE. 

His-  recall  was  at  length  demanded.  His  violence 
was  turning  the  current  of  popular  opinion  here  against 
his  country.  The  party  which  had  despatched  him 
from  France  was  annihilated.  The  heads  of  his  pa- 
trons had  passed  under  the  edge  of  the  guillotine. 
Their  successors  disavowed  his  conduct  and  recalled 
him.  In  self-vindication  he  published  his  instructions, 
disclosing  the  secrets  both  of  monarchical  and  repub- 
lican France,  dampers  to  the  affectionate  gratitude  of 
the  American  people,  and  he  renounced  his  country  for 
ever. 

The  party  opposed  to  the  administration  of  Wash- 
ington, saw  nothing  in  France  but  the  republic  of  lib- 
erty, equality,  and  fraternity.  Like  the  mass  of  the 
French  people  themselves,  they  followed  with  obse- 
quious approbation  every  resolution  by  which  an 
armed  detachment  of  Democracy  from  the  Fauxbourg 
Saint  Antoine,  swept  away  one  set  of  rulers  after 
another,  and  smothered  them  in  their  own  blood.  The 
Brissotine,  the  Dantonian,  the  Robespierrian  factions 


95 

crowded  each  other  to  the  guillotine  with  the  fury  of 
uncaged  tigers,  and  the  accession  of  a  popular  chief- 
tain to  the  summit  of  power  was  the  signal  of  his  pro- 
scription and  murder  by  that  national  razor.  At  every 
exhibition  of  this  horrid  scene,  the  Parisian  rabble 
shouted  applause,  and  clapped  their  hands  for  joy — and 
every  shout  and  every  clapping  of  hands  was  re-echoed 
from  these  western  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  by  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  administration  of  Washington.  With  this 
wilfully  blind  devotion  to  France,  was  necessarily  asso- 
ciated, a  bitter  and  malignant  hatred  of  Britain;  in- 
flamed by  the  wrongs  which  she  was  inflicting  upon 
our  commerce  and  seamen,  and  ulcerated  by  the  tone 
of  her  negotiator  here  in  the  discussion  of  the  long 
standing  mutual  complaints,  which  he  had  yet  not  been 
authorized  by  his  government  to  compromise  or  to 
settle. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1794,  the  sixth  year  of 
Washington's  administration,  this  congregating  mass  of 
evil  humours  was  drawing  to  a  head.  The  national 
feeling  against  Britain  was  irritated  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  excitement.  Resolutions  looking  and  tending 
directly  to  war,  were  introduced  and  pending  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  war  in  all  human  probability  would  have  been 
fatal  to  the  fame  of  Washington,  and  to  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Union  and  the  freedom  of  his  country. 
At  that  moment  he  fixed  his  eyes,  with  calm  and  con- 
siderate firmness  at  once  upon  James  M.mroe,  as  a 
messenger  of  peace,  of  conciliation,  and  of  friendship 


96 

to  the  Republic  of  France ;  and  upon  John  Jay,  as  an 
envoy  extraordinary,  bearer  of  the  same  disposition, 
and  interpreter  of  the  same  spirit  to  Great  Britain. 
They  were  despatched  at  the  same  time  with  in- 
structions concerted  in  one  system,  and  diversified  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  the  two  respective  missions. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate of  the  United  States,  from  Virginia — a  soldier  of 
the  Revolution,  in  the  service  of  which  he  had  passed 
from  youth  to  manhood  with  distinguished  honour. 
Personally  attached  to  Washington,  he  had  been  a 
moderate  opponent  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
and  although  adverse  to  some  of  the  leading  measures 
of  the  administration,  and  partially  favourable  to  the 
cause  of  France,  the  confidence  of  Washington  in  his 
abilities  and  in  his  personal  integrity  made  his  political 
propensities  rather  a  recommendation,  than  an  objection 
to  his  appointment. 

Mr.  Jay  was  then  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States. 
And  how  shall  I  dare  to  speak  to  YOU  of  a  native  of 
your  own  state,  and  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  not 
only  of  your  state,  but  of  his  country,  and  of  human 
nature.  At  the  dawn  of  manhood  he  had  been  one  of 
the  delegates  from  the  people  of  New  York,  at  the  first 
continental  Congress  of  1774.  In  the  course  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  he  had  been  successively  Presi- 
dent of  Congress,  one  of  their  ministers  in  Europe  — 
one  of  the  negotiators  of  the  preliminary  and  definitive 
treaties  of  peace,  and  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  to 
the  Confederation  Congress,  till  the  transition  to  the 


97 

constitutional  government,  and  at  the  organization  of  the 
judicial  tribunals  of  the  Union,  was  placed  with  the  unan- 
imous sanction  of  the  public  voice,  at  their  head.  With 
this  thickening  crowd  of  honours  gathering  around  him 
as  he  trod  the  path  of  life,  he  possessed  with  a  perfectly 
self-controlled  ambition,  a  fervently  pious,  meek  and  qui- 
et, but  firm  and  determined  spirit.  As  one  of  the  authors 
of  the  Federalist,  and  by  official  and  personal  influence  as 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  as  a  most  respected  citi- 
zen of  New  York,  he  had  contributed  essentially  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution :  and  his  administration  of 
the  highly  responsible  office  of  chief  justice,  had  given 
universal  satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  Washington's  ad- 
ministration, and  to  all  who  desired  the  practical  opera- 
tion of  the  Constitution  conformably  to  the  spirit  in 
which  it  had  been  ordained  by  the  people.  He  had  no 
European  partialities,  and  least  of  all  for  England ;  but 
he  was  for  dispensing  equal  justice  to  all  mankind,  and 
he  felt  the  necessity  of  peace  for  the  stability  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

His  negotiation  terminated  in  a  treaty,  the  ratification 
of  which  brought  on  the  severest  trial,  which  the  char- 
acter of  Washington  and  the  fortunes  of  our  nation 
have  ever  passed  through.  No  period  of  the  war  of 
independence,  no  other  emergency  of  our  history  since 
its  close,  not  even  the  ordeal  of  establishing  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  itself,  has  convulsed  to  its 
inmost  fibres,  the  political  association  of  the  North 
American  people,  with  such  excruciating  agonies  as 

the  consummation  and  fulfilment  of  this  great  national 

13 


98 

composition  of  the  conflicting  rights,  interests  and  pre- 
tensions of  our  country  and  of  Great  Britain.  The  par- 
ty strife  in  which  it  originated  and  to  which  it  gave 
birth  is  not  yet  appeased.  From  this  trial,  Washington 
himself,  his  fame,  the  peace,  union  and  prosperity  of 
his  country,  have  issued  triumphant  and  secure.  But 
it  prepared  the  way  for  the  reversal  of  some  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  his  administration,  and  for  the  introduction  of 
another  and  widely  different  system  six  years  after,  in 
the  person  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 

The  treaty  concluded  by  Mr.  Jay,  with  the  exception 
of  one  article,  which  the  British  government  readily  con- 
sented to  relinquish,  was  ratified.  The  peace,  the 
union,  the  prosperity,  the  freedom  of  the  nation,  were 
secured;  but  revolutionary  France,  and  the  opposition 
to  Washington's  administration,  were  defeated,  discon- 
certed, disabled,  but  not  subdued.  The  rabble  govern- 
ment of  the  fauxbourg  St.  Antoine  was  passing  away. 
The  atheism  of  the  strumpet  goddess  of  reason,  had  al- 
ready yielded  to  a  solemn  decree  of  the  national  Con- 
vention, proposed  by  Robespierre  himself,  in  the  name 
of  the  people  of  France,  acknowledging  —  the  existence 
of  a  God !  a  worm  of  the  dust,  recognising  as  a  co-ordi- 
nate power — the  Creator  of  all  worlds.  The  counter 
revolution  had  advanced  a  step  further.  A  constitu 
tional  republic,  with  a  legislature  in  two  branches,  and  t 
plural  executive,  had  succeeded  to  the  despotism  of  a 
single  assembly,  with  a  jacobin  club  executive.  France 
had  now  a  five-headed  executive  Directory,  and  a  new 
union  of  church  and  state,  with  a  new  theo-philanthropic 


99 

religion,  halfway  between  simple  Deism  and  Chris- 
tianity. And  republican  France  had  now  another  ele- 
ment in  her  composition.  A  youthful  soldier  by  the 
name  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  by  the  election  of 
the  whole  people  of  France,  with  the  help  of  his  holi- 
ness the  Pope,  and  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy,  was 
destined  at  no  distant  day  to  restore  the  Christian  cal- 
endar and  Sabbath  for  the  godless  decimal  division  of 
time  of  Fabre  d'Eglantine,  and  to  ascend  a  double 
carpeted  throne  of  emperor  and  king.  Through  all 
these  varying  phases  of  the  French  Revolution,  the 
party  opposed  to  Washington's  administration  still  clung 
in  affection  and  in  policy  to  France,  and  when  by  the 
election  of  Mr.  Jefferson  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  that  party  came  into  power,  it  was  precisely  the 
moment  when  Napoleon  at  the  head  of  his  brave  gren- 
adiers had  expelled  the  two  legislative  councils  from 
their  halls,  had  turned  out  the  theo-philanthropic  Direc- 
tory from  their  palace ;  and  under  the  very  republican 
name  of  first  of  three  consuls,  was  marching  with  fixed 
eye  and  steady  step  to  the  consulate  for  life,  to  the  he~ 
reditary  imperial  throne,  and  to  the  kingdom  of  the  iron 
crown.  To  all  those  transmutations  the  pure  republi- 
canism of  Jefferson  was  to  accommodate  itself  without 
blench  and  without  discarding  his  partiality  for  France.. 
Nor  was  it  to  fail  of  its  reward,  in  the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana —  a  measure,  not  embraced  or  foreseen  by  the 
administration  of  Washington,  accomplished  by  a  fla- 
grant violation  of  the  Constitution,  but  sanctioned  by 
the  acquiescence  of  the  people,  and  if  not  eventually 


100 

leading  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  shaped  by  the 
healing  and  beneficent  hand  of  Providence  from  a 
portentous  evil  into  a  national  blessing. 

The  consequences  of  that  revolution  in  our  Union 
(for  it  was  nothing  less)  are  not  yet  fully  developed  — 
far  otherwise.  But  whether  for  weal  or  wo  — for  the 
permanent  aggrandizement,  or  the  final  ruin  of  our  con- 
federated nation,  it  belongs  to  the  memory  of  Jefferson, 
and  not  to  that  of  Washington  or  his  administration. 
Hitherto  it  has  exhibited  its  fairest  side.  It  has  enlar- 
ged our  borders  and  given  us  the  whole  valley  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  pernicious  and  corrupting  example 
of  an  undissembled  admitted  prostration  of  the  Con- 
stitution—  the  more  concealed,  but  not  less  real  dis- 
placement of  the  internal  sectional  balance  of  power 
—  have  not  yet  borne  their  fruits.  Upon  the  open- 
ing of  Pandora's  box,  Hope  was  left  behind.  Hith- 
erto no  seed  of  deadly  aconite  has  generated  into 
pestilential  poison.  Let  us  rejoice  at  the  past  and  hope 
for  the  future.  But  in  leaving  to  the  judgment  of  after- 
time,  the  ultimate  decision  of  that  which  we  see  as  yet 
but  in  part,  and  through  a  glass  darkly,  let  us  look  back 
to  the  principles  of  Washington  and  his  administration, 
and  to  the  unbroken  faith  of  the  Constitution,  for  the 
source  of  that  prosperity  which  no  variation  of  seasons 
can  wither,  and  that  happiness  which  no  reverse  of  for- 
tune can  turn  into  bitter  disappointment. 

The  ratification  of  Mr.  Jay's  treaty  was  the  establish- 
ment of  justice  in  our  national  intercourse  with  Great 
Britain.  But  it  was  deeply  resented  by  all  the  parties 


101 

which  successively  wielded  the  power  of  France.  Vic- 
torious in  the  midst  of  all  their  internal  convulsions 
over  all  the  continent  of  Europe,  they  were  unable 
to  cope  with  the  naval  power  of  Britain  upon  the  sea. 
Although  Mr.  Jay's  treaty  had  expressly  reserved 
all  the  obligations  of  the  United  States  in  previ- 
ously existing  treaties  with  "  other  nations ;  France 
complained,  that  it  had  conceded  the  long-contested 
principle  of  protecting  the  cargo  of  an  enemy  with 
the  flag  of  the  friend — that  it  had  enlarged  the  list  of 
articles  of  contraband  ;  and  even  while  claiming  the  ex- 
emption of  provisions  from  that  list,  had  by  stipulating 
the  payment  for  them  when  taken,  admitted  by  impli- 
cation the  right  of  taking  them.  A  long  and  irritating 
discussion  of  these  complaints  ensued  between  the 
American  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  successive  Plen- 
ipotentiaries of  France,  and  between  the  French  Min- 
isters of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  Mr.  Monroe.  The  oppo- 
sition to  Washington's  administration,  strengthened  by 
the  unpopularity  of  Mr.  Jay's  treaty,  had  acquired  an 
ascendancy  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  counte- 
nanced and  justified  every  reproach  of  France ;  and 
made  a  persevering  and  desperate  effort  to  refuse  the 
means  and  the  supplies  for  carrying  the  treaty  into  ex- 
ecution, even  after  it  had  been  ratified. 

After  a  long  and  doubtful  struggle,  in  the  course  of 
which  the  documents  of  the  negotiation,  called  for  by 
the  House  of  Representatives,  were  refused  by  Wash- 
ington, the  House  by  a  bare  majority  voted  the  sup- 
plies. The  treaty  was  carried  faithfully  into  execu- 


102 

tion,  and  justice  was  established  in  the  relations  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

The  last  act  of  the  confederation  Congress  had  been 
to  refer  over  to  the  new  government  the  negotiations 
with  Spain,  especially  for  the  free  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.  These  were  immediately  taken  up,  and 
transferred  from  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United 
States  to  Spain.  Two  commissioners  were  appointed 
to  negotiate  with  the  Spanish  government  at  Madrid, 
who  prepared  the  way  for  the  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo, 
concluded  on  the  27th  of  October,  1795,  by  Thomas 
Pinckney,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  United 
States,  and  the  Prince  of  the  Peace,  then  the  Minister 
of  Spain  for  Foreign  Affairs.  This  treaty  secured  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  the  free  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  a  port  of  deposite  at  New  Orleans  — 
and  politically  considered  as  a  part  of  the  comprehen- 
sive system  of  Washington's  policy,  was  at  once  a  se- 
quel to  the  treaty  of  19th  November,  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  a  precursor  to  the  treaty  for  the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana  with  France. 

In  the  accomplishment  of  these  objects,  the  princi- 
pal agent  of  the  nation  had  been  the  Executive  power, 
vested  in  Washington  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  But  the  justice  for  the  establishment  of  which 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  been  ordain- 
ed, was  required  at  home  as  well  as  abroad,  and  for 
this  it  was  the  peculiar  province  of  the  Legislature  to 
provide. 

The  first  attention  due  from  that  body  was  to  the 


103 

public  creditors  of  the  country,  and  the  first  measure 
to  be  adopted  was  the  raising  of  a  revenue  to  satisfy 
their  righteous  claims.  On  the  8th  of  April,  imme- 
diately after  the  organization  of  the  two  Houses,  and 
before  the  President  of  the  United  States  had  been 
notified  of  his  election,  Mr.  Madison  introduced  into 
the  committee  of  the  whole  House  of  Representatives  a 
proposition  for  levying  duties  of  impost.  The  re- 
marks with  which  he  submitted  this  proposal,  so  ex- 
plicitly indicative  of  this  purpose  of  establishing  jus- 
tice, that  I  cannot  forbear  to  repeat  the  first  sentences 
of  them  in  his  own  words : — 

"  I  take  the  liberty,  Mr.  Chairman,"  said  he,  "  at  this 
early  stage  of  the  business,  to  introduce  to  the  com- 
mittee a  subject  which  appears  to  me  to  be  of  the  great- 
est magnitude ;  a  subject,  Sir,  that  requires  our  first  at- 
tention, and  our  united  exertions. 

"  No  gentleman  here  can  be  unacquainted  with  the 
numerous  claims  upon  our  justice;  nor  with  the  impo- 
tency  which  prevented  the  late  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  from  carrying  into  effect  the  dictates  of  grati- 
tude and  policy. 

"  The  Union  by  the  establishment  of  a  more  effect- 
ive government,  having  recovered  from  the  state  of  im- 
becility that  heretofore  prevented  a  performance  of  its 
duty,  ought  in  its  first  act  to  revive  those  principles  of 
honour  and  honesty,  that  have  too  long  lain  dormant. 

"The  deficiency  in  our  treasury  has  been  too  notorious 
to  make  it  necessary  for  me  to  animadvert  upon  that 
subject.  Let  us  content  ourselves  with  endeavouring 


104 

to  remedy  the  evil.  To  do  this,  a  national  revenue 
must  be  obtained ;  but  the  system  must  be  such  a  one, 
that,  while  it  secures  the  object  of  revenue,  it  shall  not 
be  oppressive  to  our  constituents.  Happy  it  is  for  us 
that  such  a  system  is  within  our  power ;  for  I  appre- 
hend, that  both  these  objects  may  be  obtained  from  an 
impost  on  articles  imported  into  the  United  States." 

And  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  revenues  of 
the  Union  ;  and  with  them  the  means  of  paying  their 
debts  and  of  providing  for  their  common  defence  and 
general  welfare.  The  act  of  Congress  framed  upon 
this  proposal,  received  the  sanction  of  Washington  on 
the  4th  of  July,  in  the  first  year  of  his  administration. 
It  stands  the  second  on  the  statute  book  of  the  United 
States,  immediately  after  that  which  binds  all  the  officers 
of  the  Union  to  the  support  of  the  Constitution,  by  the 
solemnities  of  an  appeal  to  God,  and  declares  in  a  brief 
preamble,  the  necessity  of  its  enactment,  "  for  the  sup- 
port of  government,  for  the  discharge  of  the  debts  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  encouragement  and  protec- 
tion of  manufactures." 

With  the  act  for  laying  duties  of  impost,  there  was 
associated  another,  imposing  duties  of  tonnage  on 
ships,  in  which  to  encourage  the  shipping  and  ship- 
building interest,  a  double  discrimination  was  made  be- 
tween ships  built  in  the  United  States  and  belonging 
to  their  citizens,  ships  built  in  the  United  States,  be- 
longing to  foreigners,  and  ships  foreign  built  and 
owned.  The  duty  upon  the  first  of  these  classes  being 
six,  on  the  second  thirty,  and  on  the  third  fifty  cents  a 


105 

ton.  The  same  discriminating  principle  favourable  to 
the  navigation  of  the  United  States,  was  observed  in 
every  part  of  the  Act  for  levying  duties  of  impost. 

An  Act  for  regulating  the  collection  of  these  duties, 
with  the  establishment  of  ports  of  entry  and  delivery, 
and  for  the  appointment  of  officers  of  the  customs  through- 
out the  United  States :  an  Act  for  the  establishment 
and  support  of  light-houses,  beacons,  buoys,  and  pub- 
lic piers  ;  and  an  Act  for  regulating  the  coasting-trade, 
completed  the  system  for  raising  a  revenue. 

Thus  the  organization  of  the  government,  conforma- 
bly to  the  new  constitution,  and  to  give  it  practical 
operation,  was  effected  at  the  first  session  of  the  first 
Constitutional  Congress,  between  the  4th  of  March, 
and  the  29th  of  September,  1789.  A  comprehensive 
and  efficient  system  of  revenue  —  a  graduation  of  judi- 
cial tribunals,  inferior  and  supreme — the  Departments 
of  State,  of  the  Treasury,  and  of  War — a  temporary 
establishment  of  the  Post  Office,  provisions  for  the  ne- 
gotiation of  treaties  with  the  Indian  tribes ;  for  the 
adaptation  to  the  new  order  of  things,  of  the  ordinance 
for  the  government  of  the  northwestern  Territory,  and 
of  the  shadow  of  a  military  establishment  then  exist- 
ing ;  for  fixing  the  compensation  of  the  President  and 
Vice  President,  the  members  of  Congress,  and  of  all 
the  officers  of  the  United  States,  judicial  and  execu- 
tive— and  for  the  payment  of  invalid  pensions,  were 
all  effected  within  that  time.  Twelve  Amendments  to 
the  Constitution,  to  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  omis- 
sion of  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  were  agreed  to  by  a 
14 


106 

majority  of  two  thirds  of  tbe  members  present  of  both 
Houses,  and  transmitted  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  sev- 
eral states — ten  of  those  Amendments  were  adopted 
by  three  fourths  of  the  state  Legislatures,  and  became 
parts  of  the  Constitution — only  two  other  Amendments 
have  since  obtained  the  same  sanction.  An  Act  of  ap- 
propriation for  the  service  of  the  year  1789,  amounting 
to  six  hundred  and  thirty-nine  thousand  dollars,  with 
twenty  thousand  more  for  negotiating  Indian  treaties, 
defrayed  all  the  expenses  of  the  year;  and  if  com- 
pared with  the  thirty-six  millions  and  upward,  appro- 
priated at  the  session  of  Congress  recently  expired,  for 
the  service  of  the  year  1839,  may  give  a  pregnant  ex- 
emplification in  the  science  of  political  economy,  of  the 
contrast  between  the  day  of  small  things,  and  the  pres- 
ent :  an  inversion  of  the  microscope  might  present  a 
comparison  between  the  results  of  the  former  and  the 
latter  appropriations,  not  so  much  to  the  advantage  of 
the  present  day. 

But  at  the  close  of  the  first  session,  there  was  yet 
much  to  be  done  for  the  establishment  of  justice  at 
home  and  abroad.  On  the  29th  of  September,  1789, 
Congress  adjourned,  to  meet  again  on  the  4th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1790.  That  second  session  continued  until  the 
12th  of  August  of  that  year.  The  institution  of  the 
Departments  of  State  and  of  the  Treasury,  were 
among  the  latest  acts  of  the  first  session,  and  on  the 
llth  of  September,  Alexander  Hamilton  had  been  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  and  on  the  26th  of 
the  same  month,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  appointed  Sec- 


107 

retary  of  State.  Henry  Knox,  the  Secretary  of  War 
to  the  confederation  Congress  when  it  expired,  was  re- 
appointed  to  the  same  office,  adapted  to  the  new  Con- 
stitution. 

The  Secretaries  of  State  and  of  the  Treasury,  both 
possessing  minds  of  the  highest  order  of  intellect ; 
both  animated  with  a  lofty  spirit  of  patriotism,  both 
distinguished  for  pre-eminent  services  in  the  Revolu- 
tion— Jefferson,  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence— Hamilton,  almost  entitled  to  be  called 
jointly  with  Madison,  the  author  of  the  Constitution 
itself,  both  spurred  to  the  rowels  by  rival  and  antag- 
onist ambition,  were  the  representatives  and  leading 
champions  of  two  widely  different  theories  of  govern- 
ment. The  Constitution  itself  was  not  altogether  sat- 
isfactory to  either  of  those  theories.  Jefferson,  bred 
from  childhood  to  the  search  and  contemplation  of  ab- 
stract rights,  dwelling  with  a  sort  of  parental  partiality 
upon  the  self-evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, and  heated  by  recent  communion  with  the 
popular  leaders  and  doctrines  of  revolutionary  France, 
in  the  convulsive  struggles  to  demolish  her  monarchy, 
had  disapproved  the  Constitution  for  its  supposed  ten- 
dency to  monarchy,  and  for  its  omission  of  a  Declara- 
tion of  Rights,  and  finally  acquiesced  in  its  adoption 
upon  a  promise  of  amendments.  Hamilton,  prompted 
by  a  natural  temper  aspiring  to  military  renown — nur- 
tured to  a  spirit  of  subordination  by  distinguished  mil- 
itary service  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  disgusted 
with  the  dishonest  imbecility  of  the  confederacy  of 


108 

sovereign  states,  of  which  he,  had  suffered  the  mortify- 
ing experience,  had  inclined  to  a  government  higher 
toned  than  that  of  the  Constitution,  to  which  he  had 
however  cheerfully  acceded — and  which  he  had  most  ably 
advocated  as  the  principal  author  of  the  Federalist,  and 
in  the  state  Convention  of  New  York.  But  the  whole 
drift  and  scope  of  his  papers  in  the  Federalist  was  direct- 
ed to  sustain  the  position,  that  a  government  at  least  as 
energetic  as  that  provided  by  the  Constitution,  was  indis- 
pensable to  the  salvation  of  the  Union — the  inference 
is  clearly  deducible  from  this  form  of  expression,  and 
from  the  tenor  of  all  his  argument,  that  he  believed  a 
still  stronger  government  necessary.  His  opinions 
thus  inclined  to  the  doctrine  of  implied  powers ;  and 
to  a  liberal  construction  of  all  the  grants  of  power  in 
the  Constitution.  These  prepossessions,  so  discordant 
in  themselves,  and  fortified  on  both  sides  with  so  much 
genius  and  talent,  soon  manifested  themselves  in  the 
cabinet  councils,  with  so  much  vehemence  and  perti- 
nacity, as  made  it  impossible  for  Washington,  as  he 
designed,  to  hold  an  even  balance  between  them. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  1789,  upon  the  report  of 
a  committee  on  a  memorial  and  petition  of  certain  of 
the  public  creditors  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  two 
Resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, without  debate  or  opposition. 

1.  That  this  house  consider  an  adequate  provision  for 
the  support  of  public  credit,  as  a  matter  of  high  im- 
portance to  the  national  honour  and  prosperity. 

2.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be  directed  to 


109 

prepare  a  plan  for  that  purpose,  and  to  report  the 

same  to  the  House  at  its  next  meeting. 

Accordingly  on  the  14th  of  January,  1790,  a  plan 
for  the  support  of  public  credit  was  reported  by  Mr. 
Hamilton  to  the  House,  and  was  followed  by  others 
proposing  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank  and  a 
mint ;  and  upon  manufactures,  with  a  review  of  the 
operation  of  the  revenue,  and  collection  and  navigation 
Acts  of  the  preceding  session — all  reports  of  consum- 
mate ability,  and  proposing  measures  for  the  restoration 
of  the  public  credit,  the  funding  of  the  public  debt,  and 
the  management  of  the  revenue,  which  were  adopted 
by  Congress  almost  without  alteration,  and  constituted 
altogether  a  system  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  nation's 
obligations,  and  the  final  discharge  of  the  debt  of  the 
Revolution,  which  has  been  carried  into  complete  ex- 
ecution, and  immortalized  the  name  of  Hamilton,  as  a 
statesman  of  high  and  permanent  reputation,  and 
among  the  first  financiers  of  his  age. 

But  in  the  consummation  of  these  plans,  questions 
of  great  difficulty,  not  only  in  politics  but  in  morals, 
and  questions  not  less  controvertible  of  constitutional 
power,  were  necessarily  involved.  It  is  deeply  to  be 
lamented  that  the  complete  success  of  Mr.  Hamilton's 
plans  ;  the  restoration  through  them  of  the  honour  of 
the  country,  and  the  discharge  to  the  last  dollar  of  her 
debt,  have  not  to  this  day  definitively  settled  all  these 
questions.  In  the  long- protracted  controversies  which 
grew  out  of  Mr.  Hamilton's  funding  system,  the  efforts 
to  discriminate  between  the  public  creditors  of  differ- 


110 

ent  classes,  the  violent  opposition  to  the  assumption  of 
the  state  debts,  and  the  strain  of  strict  construction, 
denying  the  power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  national 
bank,  by  the  same  party  which  afterward  by  Acts  of 
Congress,  purchased  a  foreign  realm,  with  its  people, 
governed  them  for  years  with  the  rod  of  Spanish  colo- 
nial despotism,  parcelled  the  land  out  in  states,  and 
admitted  them  all  to  the  Union,  were  all  as  I  believed 
morally  and  politically  wrong.  The  discrimination  be- 
tween the  public  creditors,  and  the  assumption  of  the 
state  debts,  were  questions  which  once  settled  could 
not  again  recur ;  but  the  power  of  Congress  to  estab- 
lish a  bank  as  a  regulation  of  commerce,  and  append- 
age to  the  power  of  borrowing  money  and  regulating  its 
value,  an  instrument  for  the  management  of  the  re- 
verses and  for  effecting  the  receipts  and  expenditures 
of  the  nation,  has  unfortunately  become  a  foot-ball  of 
contention  between  parties,  and  mingling  itself  with  the 
baneful  spirit  of  unlimited  separate  state  sovereignty  ^ 
even  now  hangs  as  a  dark  cloud  over  the  future  destiny 
of  the  Union.  That  cloud  will  pass  away.  The  advice 
of  empirics,  administering  the  bane  for  the  antidote,  will 
give  way  to  the  surgery  of  sober  reason;  and  exemption 
from  debt,  and  superfluity  of  revenue,  shall  no  longer 
by  the  financiering  economy  of  the  executive  head, 
be  felt  as  a  public  calamity. 

The  establishment  of  the  funding  system  of  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton, and  especially  the  incorporation  of  the  bank,  oper- 
ated like  enchantment  for  the  restoration  of  the  public 
credit ;  repaired  the  ruined  fortunes  of  the  public  cred- 


Ill 

itors,  and  was  equivalent  to  the  creation  of  many  mil- 
lions of  capital,  available  for  the  encouragement  of  in- 
dustry and  the  active  exertions  of  enterprise.  His  repu- 
tation rose  proportionally  in  the  public  estimation.  But 
his  principles  thus  developed  brought  him  in  the  cabi- 
net of  Washington,  immediately  into  conflict  with  those 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  in  the  house  of  represent- 
atives, with  those  of  Mr.  Madison,his  late  friend  and  as- 
sociate in  the  composition  of  the  Federalist,  and  in  framing 
and  erecting  the  admirable  fabric  of  the  Constitution. 
Mr.  Madison  was  the  intimate,  confidential,  and  devoted 
friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  the  mutual  influence  of 
these  two  mighty  minds  upon  each  other,  is  a  phenom- 
enon, like  the  invisible  and  mysterious  movements  of 
the  magnet  in  the  physical  world,  and  in  which  the  sa- 
gacity of  the  future  historian  may  discover  the  solution 
of  much  of  our  national  history  not  otherwise  easily  ac- 
countable. 

The  system  of  strict  construction  of  state  rights,  and 
of  federative  preponderance  in  the  councils  of  the  na- 
tion, become  thus  substitutes  for  the  opposition  to  the 
Constitution  itself,  and  elements  of  vehement  opposition 
to  the  administration  of  Washington,  of  which  the  fund- 
ing system  thenceforward  formed  a  vital  part.  At  the 
head  of  this  opposition  Mr.  Jefferson  was  in  the  cabinet, 
and  Mr.  Madison  in  the  house  of  representatives. 

This  opposition  soon  assumed  the  shape  of  a  rival 
system  of  administration,  preparing  for  the  advancement 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  succession  of  the  Presidency,  and 
thoroughly  organized  to  the  accomplishment  of  that 


112 

purpose.  It  was  conducted  with  more  address,  with 
more  constant  watchfulness  of  the  fluctuations  of  public 
opinion,  and  more  pliable  self-accommodation  to  them 
than  the  administration  itself.  It  began  with  a  studious 
and  cautious  preservation  of  deference  to  the  character 
and  reputation  of  Washington  himself,  never  wholly  aban- 
doned by  Mr.  Jefferson,  always  retained  by  Mr.  Madison, 
but  soon  exchanged  by  some  of  their  partisans  in  Congress 
for  hostility  ill-disguised,  and  by  many  of  the  public  jour- 
nals and  popular  meetings,  for  the  most  furious  assaults 
upon  his  reputation,  and  the  most  violent  denuncia- 
tions, not  only  of  his  policy,  but  of  his  personal  char- 
acter. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  in  the  meantime  fortifying  his  own 
reputation,  and  raising  himself  in  the  estimation  of  his 
countrymen,  by  a  series  of  reports  to  the  President,  and 
to  both  houses  of  Congress,  upon  weights  and  meas- 
ures, upon  the  fisheries,  upon  the  commerce  of  the 
Mediterranean  sea,  upon  the  commercial  intercourse 
with  the  European  nations,  and  afterward  by  a  corres- 
pondence with  the  ministers  of  Britain,  and  of  France  and 
of  Spain,  with  an  exhibition  of  genius,  of  learning,  and 
of  transcendant  talent,  certainly  not  inferior,  perhaps 
surpassing  that  of  Hamilton  himself.  The  two  sys- 
tems, however,  were  so  radically  incompatible  with 
each  other,  that  Washington  was,  after  many  painful 
efforts  to  reconcile  them  together,  compelled  reluctantly 
to  choose  between  them.  He  decided  in  the  main  for 
that  of  Hamilton,  and  soon  after  the  unanimous  re-elec- 
tion of  Washington  to  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Jefferson  re- 


113 

tired  from  the  administration,  to  Monticello,  and  osten- 
sibly to  private  life. 

Within  a  year  afterward,  Hamilton  also  retired,  as  did 
Washington  himself  at  the  close  of  his  presidential  term. 
He  declined  a  second  re-election.  The  opposition  to 
his  administration,  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
had  acquired  a  head,  which  in  the  course  of  four  years 
more,  might  have  broken  it  down,  as  it  was  broken 
down  in  the  hands  of  his  successor. 

When  Solon,  by  the  appointment  of  the  people  of 
Athens,  had  formed,  and  prevailed  upon  them  to  adopt 
a  code  of  fundamental  laws,  the  best  that  they  would 
bear,  he  went  into  voluntary  banishment  for  ten  years, 
to  save  his  system  from  the  batteries  of  rival  statesmen 
working  upon  popular  passions  and  prejudices  excited 
against  his  person.  In  eight  years  of  a  turbulent  and 
tempestuous  administration,  Washington  had  settled  up- 
on firm  foundations  the  practical  execution  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  In  the  midst  of  the  most 
appalling  obstacles,  through  the  bitterest  internal  dissen- 
sions, and  the  most  formidable  combinations  of  foreign 
antipathies  and  cabals,  he  had  subdued  all  opposition  to 
the  Constitution  itself;  had  averted  all  dangers  of 
European  war;  had  redeemed  the  captive  children  of 
his  country  from  Algiers;  had  reduced  by  chastisement 
and  conciliated  by  kindness,  the  most  hostile  of  the  In- 
dian tribes ;  had  restored  the  credit  of  the  nation,  and 
redeemed  their  reputation  of  fidelity  to  the  performance 
of  their  obligations ;  had  provided  for  the  total  extin- 
guishment of  the  public  debt ;  had  settled  the  Union 

15 


114 


upon  the  immovable  foundation  of  principle,  and  had 
drawn  around  his  head  for  the  admiration  and  emula- 
tion of  after  times,  a  brighter  blaze  of  glory  than  had 
ever  encircled  the  brows  of  hero  or  statesman,  patriot 


or  sage. 


The  administration  of  Washington  fixed  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  a  prac- 
tical system  of  government,  which  it  retains  to  this 
day.  Upon  his  retirement,  its  great  antagonist,  Mr. 
Jefferson,  came  into  the  government  again,  as  Vice 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  four  years  after, 
succeeded  to  the  Presidency  itself.  But  the  funding 
system  and  the  bank  were  established.  The  peace 
with  both  the  great  belligerant  powers  of  Europe  was 
secured.  The  disuniting  doctrines  of  unlimited  sep- 
arate state  sovereignty  were  laid  aside.  Louisiana,  by 
a  stretch  of  power  in  Congress,  far  beyond  the  highest 
tone  of  Hamilton,  was  annexed  to  the  Union — and 
although  dry-docks,  and  gun-boats,  and  embargoes,  and 
commercial  restrictions,  still  refused  the  protection  of 
the  national  arm  to  commerce,  and  although  an  over- 
weening love  of  peace,  and  a  reliance  upon  reason  as 
a  weapon  of  defence  against  foreign  aggression,  even- 
tuated in  a  disastrous  though  glorious  war  with  the 
gigantic  power  of  Britain,  the  Constitution  as  construed 
by  Washington,  still  proved  an  effective  government 
for  the  country. 

And  such  it  has  still  proved,  through  every  succes- 
sive change  of  administration  it  has  undergone.  Of 
these,  it  becomes  not  me  to  speak  in  detail.  Nor  were 


f!5 

it  possible,  without  too  great  a  trespass  upon  your  time. 
The  example  of  Washington,  of  retiring  from  the 
Presidency  after  a  double  term  of  four  years,  was  fol- 
lowed by  Mr.  Jefferson,  against  the  urgent  solicitations 
of  several  state  Legislatures.  This  second  example  of 
voluntary  self-chastened  ambition,  by  the  decided  ap- 
probation of  public  opinion,  has  been  held  obligatory 
upon  their  successors,  and  has  become  a  tacit  subsi  • 
diary  Constitutional  law.  If  not  entirely  satisfactory 
to  the  nation,  it  is  rather  by  its  admitting  one  re-elec- 
tion, than  by  its  interdicting  a  second.  Every  change 
of  a  President  of  the  United  States,  has  exhibited 
some  variety  of  policy  from  that  of  his  predecessor. 
In  more  than  one  case,  the  change  has  extended  to  po- 
litical and  even  to  moral  principle ;  but  the  policy  of 
the  country  has  been  fashioned  far  more  by  the  in- 
fluences of  public  opinion,  and  the  prevailing  humours 
in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  than  by  the  judgment, 
the  will,  or  the  principles  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  The  President  himself  is  no  more  than 
a  representative  of  public  opinion  at  the  time  of  his 
election ;  and  as  public  opinion  is  subject  to  great  and 
frequent  fluctuations,  he  must  accommodate  his  policy 
to  them ;  or  the  people  will  speedily  give  him  a  succes- 
sor ;  or  either  House  of  Congress  will  effectually  con- 
trol his  power.  It  is  thus,  and  in  no  other  sense  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  democratic— 
for  the  government  of  our  country,  instead  of  a  Dem- 
ocracy the  most  simple,  is  the  most  complicated  gov- 
ernment on  the  face  of  the  globe.  From  the  immense 


116 

extent  of  our  territory,  the  difference  of  manners,  hab- 
its, opinions,  and  above  all,  the  clashing  interests  of  the 
North,  South,  East,  and  West,  public  opinion  formed  by 
the  combination  of  numerous  aggregates,  becomes  it- 
self a  problem  of  compound  arithmetic,  which  nothing 
but  the  result  of  the  popular  elections  can  solve. 

It  has  been  my  purpose,  Fellow-Citizens,  in  this  dis- 
course to  show  :  — 

1.  That  this  Union  was  formed  by  a  spontaneous 
movement  of  the  people  of  thirteen  English  Colonies ; 
all  subjects  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain — bound  to 
him  in  allegiance,  and  to  the  British  empire  as  their 
country.      That   the    first   object  of  this   Union,    was 
united  resistance    against   oppression,    and  to   obtain 
from  the  government  of  their  country  redress  of  their 
wrongs. 

2.  That  failing  in  this  object,  their  petitions  having 
been  spurned,  and  the  oppressions  of  which  they  com- 
plained, aggravated  beyond  endurance,  their  Delegates 
in  Congress,  in  their  name  and  by  their  authority,  issued 
the  Declaration   of  Independence — proclaiming  them 
to  the  world  as  one  people,  absolving  them  from  their 
ties  and  oaths  of  allegiance  to  their  king  and  country — 
renouncing  that  country ;  declaring  the  UNITED  Col- 
onies, Independent  States,  and   announcing  that  this 
ONE  PEOPLE  of  thirteen  united  independent  states, 
by  that  act,  assumed  among  the  powers  of  the  earth, 
that  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of 
nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitled  them. 

3.  That  in  Justification  of  themselves  for  this  act  of 


117 

transcendent  power,  they  proclaimed  the  principles  upon 
which  they  held  all  lawful  government  upon  earth  to  be 
founded — which  principles  were,  the  natural,  unaliena- 
ble,  imprescriptible  rights  of  man,  specifying  among 
them,  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness — that 
the  institution  of  government  is  to  secure  to  men  in  so- 
ciety the  possession  of  those  rights :  that  the  institution, 
dissolution,  and  reinstitution  of  government,  belong 
exclusively  to  THE  PEOPLE  under  amoral  respon- 
sibility to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe  ;  and  that 
all  the  just  powers  of  government  are  derived  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed. 

4.  That  under  this  proclamation  of  principles,  the  dis- 
solution of  allegiance  to  the  British  king,  and  the  com- 
patriot connection  with  the  people  of  the  British  empire, 
were  accomplished ;    and  the  one  people  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  became  one  separate  sovereign  inde- 
pendent power,  assuming  an  equal  station  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

5.  That  this  one  people  did  not  immediately  institute 
a  government  for  themselves.      But  instead  of  it,  their 
delegates  in  Congress,  by  authority  from  their  separate 
state  legislatures,  without  voice  or  consultation  of  the 
people,  instituted  a  mere  confederacy. 

6.  That  this   confederacy  totally  departed  from  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  sub- 
stituted instead  of  the  constituent  power  of  the  people, 
an  assumed  sovereignty  of  each  separate  state,  as  the 
source  of  all  its  authority. 

7.  That  as  a  primitive  source  of  power,  this  separate 


118 

state  sovereignty,  was  not  only  a  departure  from  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  but  di- 
rectly contrary  to,  and  utterly  incompatible  with  them. 

8.  That  the  tree  was  made  known  by  its  fruits.    That 
after  five  years  wasted  in  its  preparation,  the  confed- 
eracy dragged  out  a  miserable  existence  of  eight  years 
more,  and  expired  like  a  candle  in  the  socket,  having 
brought  the  union  itself  to  the  verge  of  dissolution. 

9.  That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  a 
return  to  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  the  exclusive  constituent  power  of  the  people. 
That  it  was  the  work  of  the  ONE   PEOPLE   of  the 
United  States ;    and  that  those  United  States,  though 
doubled  in  numbers,  still  constitute  as  a  nation,  but  ONE 
PEOPLE. 

10.  That  this  Constitution,  making  due  allowance  for 
the  imperfections   and   errors  incident  to   all  human 
affairs,  has  under  all  the  vicissitudes  and  changes  of 
war   and   peace,  been  administered  upon  those  same 
principles,  during  a  career  of  fifty  years. 

11.  That  its  fruits  have  been,  still  making  allowance 
for  human  imperfection,  a  more  perfect  union,  establish- 
ed justice,  domestic  tranquility,  provision  for  the  com- 
mon defence,  promotion  of  the  general  welfare,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  liberty  by  the  constituent 
people,  and  their  posterity  to  the  present  day. 

And  now  the  future  is  all  before  us,  and  Providence 
our  guide. 

When  the  children  of  Israel,  after  forty  years  of  wan- 
derings in  the  wilderness,  were  about  to  enter  upon 


119 

the  promised  land,  their  leader,  Moses,  who  was  not  per- 
mitted to  cross  the  Jordan  with  them,  just  before  his  re- 
moval from  among  them,  commanded  that  when  the 
Lord  their  God  should  have  brought  them  into  the  land, 
they  should  put  the  curse  upon  Mount  Ebal,  and  the 
blessing  upon  Mount  Gerizim.  This  injunction  was 
faithfully  fulfilled  by  his  successor  Joshua.  Immedi- 
ately after  they  had  taken  possession  of  the  land,  Joshua 
built  an  altar  to  the  Lord,  of  whole  stones,  upon  Mount 
Ebal.  And  there  he  wrote  upon  the  stones  a  copy  of 
the  law  of  Moses,  which  he  had  written  in  the  presence 
of  the  children  of  Israel :  and  all  Israel,  and  their 
elders  and  officers,  and  their  judges,  stood  on  the  two 
sides  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  borne  by  the  priests 
and  Levites,  six  tribes  over  against  Mount  Gerizim,  and 
six  over  against  Mount  Ebal.  And  he  read  all  the 
words  of  the  law,  the  blessings  and  cursings,  according 
to  all  that  was  written  in  the  book  of  the  law. 

Fellow-citizens,  the  ark  of  your  covenant  is  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence.  Your  Mount  Ebal,  is  the 
confederacy  of  separate  state  sovereignties,  and  your 
Mount  Gerizim  is  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
In  that  scene  of  tremendous  and  awful  solemnity,  narra- 
ted in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  there  is  not  a  curse  pronoun- 
ced against  the  people,  upon  Mount  Ebal,  not  a  blessing 
promised  them  upon  Mount  Gerizim,  which  your  pos- 
terity may  not  suffer  or  enjoy,  from  your  and  their  ad- 
herence to,  or  departure  from,  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  practically  interwoven  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Lay  up  these  prin- 


120 

ciples,  then,  in  your  hearts,  ^ and  in  your  souls  —  bind 
them  for  signs  upon  your  hands,  that  they  maybe  as  front- 
lets between  your  eyes — teach  them  to  your  children, 
speaking  of  them  when  sitting  in  your  houses,  when 
walking  by  the  way,  when  lying  down  and  when  rising 
up — write  them  upon  the  doorplates  of  your  houses, 
and  upon  your  gates  —  cling  to  them  as  to  the  issues 
of  life  —  adhere  to  them  as  to  the  cords  of  your  eternal 
salvation.  So  may  your  children's  children  at  the  next 
return  of  this  day  of  jubilee,  after  a  full  century  of  ex- 
perience under  your  national  Constitution,  celebrate 
it  again  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  blessings  recog- 
nised by  you  in  the  commemoration  of  this  day,  and  of 
all  the  blessings  promised  to  the  children  of  Israel  upon 
Mount  Gerizim,  as  the  reward  of  obedience  to  the  law 
of  God. 


THE  CELEBRATION. 


THE  CELEBRATION. 


THE  semi-centennial  anniversary  of  the  first  inauguration  of  GKORGE 
WASHINGTON,  as  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  organi/ation  of 
the  general  government  under  the  Federal  Constitution,  was  celebrated 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  Tuesday,  April  30th,  1839,  by  a  public  Ora- 
tion and  Dinner,  under  the  direction  of  a  committee  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society. 

The  Honorable  JOHN  QJTINCY  ADAMS,  the  sixth  President  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  was  selected  as  the  Orator  on  this  interesting  occasion  ;  and 
letters  of  invitation  were  addressed  to  distinguished  survivors  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary period,  to  the  Historical  Societies  of  other  states,  and  to  vari- 
ous public  functionaries,  requesting  their  attendance. 

MK.  ADAMS,  having  accented  the  appointment,  arrived  in  town  from 
Washington  on  Monday,  April  29th,  and  in  the  evening  met  a  large 
number  of  the  members  of  the  Society  at  their  rooms  in  the  Stuy  vesant 
Institute.  From  thence  the  company  repaired  by  invitation  to  the  house 
of  Mr.  Stuy  vesant,  the  President  of  the  Society,  where  a  sumptuous  en- 
tertainment was  provided  for  the  occasion. 

On  Tuesday,  at  eleven  o'clock,  A.  M.,  the  Society  with  their  guests  as- 
sembled at  the  City  Hotel,  where  a  large  number  of  citizens  joined  them 
in  paying  their  personal  respects  to  the  venerable  Orator  of  the  day,  and 
to  the  Revolutionary  veterans,  who,  disregarding  the  infirmities  of  age, 
had  once  more  rallied  in  honour  of  their  beloved  Chief.  Among  the  guests 
were  Colonel  John  Trumbull,  General  M  >rgan  Lewis,  Mr.  Justice 
Thompson,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  His  Excellency 
William  Pennington,  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  Hon.  Samuel  L.  South- 
ard, of  the  United  States  Senate,  Major-General  Winfield  Scott,  and 
Suite,  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  Commodore  Alexander  Claxton,  of  the  U.  S. 
Navy,  Hon.  John  Davis,  Judge  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court  for  Massa- 
chusetts, Baron  de  Roeaue,  late  Charge  d'Affaires  for  Prussia,  Hon. 
William  A.  Duer,  President  of  Columbia  College,  Messrs.  Albert  Smith, 
Member  of  Congress,  of  Maine,  Nathan  Appleton,  late  M.  C.,  of  Boston, 
William  S.  Hastings,  M.  C.,  of  Massachusetts,  Daniel  D.  Barnard,  M. 
C.,  of  Albany,  Rlisha  Whittlesey,  M.  C.,  of  Ohio,  John  Howland,  Esq., 
President  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  William  Willis,  Esq., 
of  the  Maine  Histoiical  Society,  Jacob  B.  Moore,  Esq.,  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Historical  Society,  and  others. 

At  twelve  o'clock,  the  company  moved  in  procession  to  the  Middle 
Dutch  church,  in  Cedar  street,  where  an  immense  concourse  of  people 
were  assembled,  comprising  much  of  the  beauty  and  fashion  of  the  city, 
besides  many  di>tinguishcd  strangers.  Tickets  having  been  issued  for 
admission  to  the  church,  to  prevent  the  confusion  of  a  crowd  greater  than 
could  be  provided  with  seats,  many  hundreds  of  persons  were  neces-atily 
excluded  who  sought  to  be  present.  A  temporary  stage  was  erected  in 
front  of  the  pulpit  for  the  convenience  of  the  guests,  on  which  was  placi-d 
the  identical  chair  which  had  been  occupied  by  General  Washington  at 
the  time  of  his  inauguration.  This  chair  was  now  taken  bv  the  distin- 
guished Orator  of  the  day,  who  was  supported  on  his  riorht  by  Peter  Gerard 
Sluyvesant,  Esq.,  the  President  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
and  on  his  left  by  Philip  Hone,  Esq.,  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents.  The 


124 

members  of  the  Society,  and  the  delegates  from  the  Historical  Societies 
of  other  state*,  occupied  the  central  seats  in  the  body  of  house,  which 
were  reserved  for  their  use. 

The  delivery  of  the  Oration  was  preceded  by  a  fervent  and  appropri- 
ate prayer  from  the  Rev.  John  Knox.  D.  D.,  one  of  the  associate  pastors 
of  the  Dutch  Collegiate  church.  The  following  Ode,  written  for  the  oc- 
casion by  William  Cullen  Bryant,  Esq.,  was  then  sung : — 

GREAT  were  the  hearts,  and  strong  the  minds, 

Of  those  who  framed,  in  high  debate, 
The  immortal  league  of  love  that  binds 

Our  fair  broad  empire,  state  with  state. 

And  ever  hallowed  he  the  hour, 

When,  as  the  auspicious  task  was  done, 
A  nation's  gift,  the  sword  of  power, 

Was  triven  to  glory's  unspoiled  son. 

That  noble  race  is  gone;  the  suns 

Of  fifty  years  have  risen  and  set ; 
Thf  holy  links  those  mighty  ones 

Had  forged  and  knit,  are  brighter  yet. 

Wide — as  our  own  free  race  increase — 

Wide  shall  it  stretch  the  elastic  chain, 
And  bind,  in  everlasting  peace, 

State  after  state,  a  mighty  train. 

The  Oration  occupied  about  two  hours  in  the  delivery,  and,  by  the  ex- 
traordinary ability,  learning  and  eloquence  which  it  displayed,  fully  sus- 
tained the  most  sanguine  anticipations  of  the  friends  of  the  distinguish- 
ed Orator.  The  exercises  were  concluded  with  a  prayer  and  benedic- 
tion from  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Wainwright,  D.  D.,  one  of  the  Ministers  of 
Trinity  church. 

At  six  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  company  re-assembled  at  the  City  Hotel,  and 
about  two  hundred  persons  sat  down  to  a  dinner  prepared 'in  the  best 
style  of  that  well-known  establishment.  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  Esq.,  pre- 
sided on  the  occasion,  assisted  by  Philip  Hone,  Esq.,  Hon.  Judge  Betts, 
of  the  U.  S.  District  Court,  and  Charles  King,  Esq.  The  arrangements 
which  were  made  under  the  efficient  direction  of  the  committee  for  that 
purpose,  were  happily  carried  into  effect,  and  the  whole  evening  exhibit- 
ed a  continued  scene  of  festive  enjoyment,  enlivened  by  music  from  a 
band  in  the  orchestra,  and  a  select  corps  of  professional  vocal  performers, 
accompanied  by  the  piano  forte,  and  led  by  the  celebrated  Mr.  Sinclair, 
of  the  Theatre. 

After  the  removal  of  the  cloth,  the  following  toasts  were  proposed  by 
the  President : — 

1.  George  Washington— His  example  was  perfect :  severe  will  be  the  condemna- 
tion of  him,  who  seeks  his  place  and  disregards  the  authority  of  that  example. 

Mr.  Stuyvesant  accompanied  this  toast  with  some  remarks,  containing 
interesting  allusions  to  the  private  habits  and  character  of  General  Wash- 
ington, in  substance  as  follows  : — 

In  cannot  be  expected,  at  this  time  and  place,  any  allusion  should  be 
made  to  the  public  character  of  Washington ;  we  are  all  in  possession 
of  his  history  from  the  dawn  of  life  to  the  day  that  Mount  Vernon  was 
wrapped  in  sable;  and  after  the  exercises  of  this  morning,  if  any  attempt 
to  portray  his  political  or  military  life  was  made,  it  would  only  be  the 
glimmering  light  of  a  feeble  star  succeeding  the  rays  of  a  meridian  sun. 

But  the  occasion  afford.-*  an  opportunity  of  congratulating  the  small 
number  of  sentlemen  present,  who  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  participating 
in  the  ceremonies  of  the  thirtieth  of  April,  17S9  ;  they  will  recall  to  their 


125 

memories  the  spontaneous  effusions  of  joy  that  pervaded  the  breasts  of 
the  people,  who,  on  that  occasion,  witnessed  the  organization  of  a  consti- 
tutional government  formed  by  intelligent  freemen,  and  consummated  by 
placing  at  its  head  the  man  in  whom  their  affections  were  concentrated 
AS  tlie  father  of  their  country. 

Washington's  residence  in  this  city  after  his  inauguration  waa  limited  to 
about  two  years.  His  deportment  in  life  was  not  plain,  nor  was  it  at  all 
pompous,  for  no  man  was  more  devoid  of  ostentation  than  himself;  his 
style,  however,  gave  universal  satisfaction  to  all  classes  in  the  communi- 
ty ;  and,  his  historian  has  informed  us,  was  not  adopted  for  personal  grat- 
ification, but  from  a  devotion  to  his  country's  welfare.  Possessing  a  de 
•arable  stature,  au  erect  frame,  and,  superadded.  a  lofty  and  sublime  conn 
reliance,  he  never  appeared  in  public  without  arresting  the  reverence  and 
admiration  of  the  beholder;  and  the  stranger  who  had  never  before  seen 
iiim,  was  at  the  first  impression  convinced  it  was  tne  President  who  de- 
lighted him. 

He  seldom  walked  in  the  street — his  public  recreation  was  in  riding 
When  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Washington,  he  rode  in  a  carriage  drawn  b\ 
six  horses,  with  two  outriders  who  wore  rich  liverv,  cocked  hats,  with 
cockades  and  powder.  When  he  rode  on  horse bac*,  h>-  >ined  by 

one  or  more  of  the  gentlemen  of  his  family,  and  altende  I  -ulers. 

He  always  attended  divine  service  on  Sundays;  his  c  n  (hose 

occasions  contained  Mrs.  Washington  and  himself,  with  o. 
their  grand-children,  and  was  drawn  by  two  horses,  with  tu 
behind;  it  was  succeeded  by  a  post-chaise,  accoma o'iating  two  geu 
of  his  household.     On  bis  arrival  in  the  city,  i;.     :>nly  resident-- 
could  be  procured  was  a  house  in  Cherry  street,  k .         <>vn  as  the  man- 
sion of  the  Franklin  family,  but  in  a  short  time  afterward  1.-    /moved  to 
and  occupied  the  house  in  Broadway,  now  Bunker's  hotel. 

Washington  held  a  levee  once  a  week,  and  from  what  is  now  r<- 
ed  they  were  generally  well  attended,  hut  confined  to  men  in  public  »,.  • 
and  gentlemen  of  leisure,  for  at  that  day  it  would  have  been  thought 
a  breach  of  decorum  to  visit  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  dis- 
habille. 

The  arrival  of  Washington  in  1789,  to  assume  the  reins  of  government, 
was  not  his  first  entry  into  this  city,  accompanied  with  honour  to  himself 
and  glory  to  this  country.  This  was  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  November. 
1773;  and  here  again  I  must  observe,  the  number  present  who  witnessed 
the  ceremonies  of  that  day,  must,  indeed,  be  very  limited ;  on  that  day 
he  made  his  triumphal  entry,  not  to  sway  the  sceptre,  but  to  lay  down 
his  sword  ;  not  for  personal  aggrandizement,  but  to  secure  the  happiness 
of  his  countrymen.  He  early  in  the  morning  left  Harlem  and  entered 
the  city  through  what  is  now  called  the  Bowery  ;  he  was  escorted  by 
cavalry  and  infantry,  and  a  large  concourse  of  citizens  on  horseback  and 
on  foot  in  plain  dress ;  the  latter  must  have  been  an  interesting  sight  to 
those  of  mature  age  wno  were  capable  of  comprehending  their  merit.  In 
their  ranks  were  seen  men  with  patched  elbows,  odd  buttons  on  their 
coats,  and  unmatched  Vickies  in  their  shoes ;  they  were  not  indeed  Fal- 
staflPs  company  of  scare-crows,  but  the  most  respectable  citizens,  who 
had  been  in  exile  and  endured  privations  we  know  not  of,  for  seven  long 
and  tedious  years. 

On  that  occasion,  and  on  nis  arrival  in  1789,  Washington  was  received 
as  is  well  known,  by  the  elder  Clinton,  who  was  at  both  periods  Govern- 
or of  the  state. 

i  The  Day  wt  ecl'braU — It  witnessed  the  commencement  of  our  government. 
May  the  day  be  far  removed  which  dawns  upon  its  dissolution. 

The  next  toa-t  \vas  preceded  by  the  following  observations  from  the 
President : — 


126 

In  calling  your  attention  to  the  toast  next  in  order,  I  have  a  duty  to 
perform,  highly  gratifying  to  my  inclination  ;  bui  I  cannot  conceal  "the 
embarrassment  I  feel  from  my  inability  to  do  justice  to  the  subject.  I 
have  to  propose  the  health  of  a  gentleman  of  extraordinary  merit  and 
fame — One  of  America's  most  distinguished  sons.  The  Civilian,  the 
Legislator,  the  Statesman,  and  the  Scholar.  A  gentleman  unexcelled  in 
general  attainments — exercising  a  mind  in  every  department  of  science  to 
advance  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  mankind.  Possessing  and  advoca- 
ting morals  of  the  highest  order.  A  gentleman  who  has  this  day  so  sig- 
nally honoured  us,  and  honoured  our  city ;  and  in  the  various  legislative, 
executive,  and  diplomatic  stations  he  has  filled  for  nearly  fifty  years,  has 
honoured  our  country  at  home  and  abroad. 

He  then  gave — 

3.   The  Orator  of  the  Day— 

Justuin  et  tenacem  propositi  viruin 
Non  civium  ardor  prova  iubentium, 
IVon  vultus  instanris  tyranni 
Mente  quatit  solid  a. 

Mr.  Adams  then  said  : — 
MR.  PRESIDENT — 

After  the  large  draughts  which  I  have  already  been  this  day  permitted 
to  make  upon  the  patience  and  indulgence  of  the  company  here  present, 
and  others  of  my  fellow-citizens,  inhabitants  of  this  city,  were  I  not  oth- 
erwise at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  emotions  excited  by  this  fresh  testi- 
monial of  their  kindness,  it  would  best  become  me  perhaps  to  receive  it 
in  silence — [go  on  !  go  on  !  from  several  voices  at  the  table] — especially 
as,  by  consuming  any  portion  of  the  time  of  this  company,  I  am  con- 
scious of  withholding  from  them  some  part  of  the  rich  treat  of  entertain- 
ment, which  they  are  justly  expecting  from  others  whom  I  see  at  this 
table,  far  better  qualified  to  discourse  to  them  upon  any  topic  than  myself. 
I  cannot,  however,  forbear  from  the  utterance  of  the  grateful  sentiment 
swelling  in  my  bosom  for  your  kindness  at  this  moment,  as  well  as  that 
with  which  I  have  been  honoured  this  morning ;  and  with  deep  sensibil- 
ity to  the  friendly  regard  manifested  in  the  personal  reference  of  the  sen- 
timent just  given  from  the  chair,  I  submit  a  few  remarks  upon  a  period 
intimately  connected  with,  but  preceding  that  of  your  commemoration. 

The  day  of  this  celebration  is  that  upon  which  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  began  their  career  of  history  under  a  constitution  of  gov- 
ernment, 

They  have  had  fifty  years  of  experience  of  that  government,  and  the 
review  which  you  have  proposed  to  take  as  appropriate  on  this  day,  has 
been  chiefly  confined  to  the  character  of  the  Constitution  and  government, 
as  it  has  proved  upon  trial  by  experience. 

What  it  was  in  theory,  properly  belongs  to  the  consideration  of  a  pre- 
ceding period  of  time,  of  which,  in  the  discourse  pronounced  at  your  in- 
vitation, only  incidental  notice  could  be  taken,  as  in  the  historical  chain 
of  events  leading  to  that  which  it  was  your  special  purpose  to  commem- 
orate. 

That  preceding  period,  however,  of  our  national  history,  from  the  ori- 
gin, formation,  and  progress  of  our  Union  to  its  consummation,  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  national  government,  is  full  of  a  deep  and  abiding  inter- 
est ; — nor  can  it  be  forgotten  in  the  estimate  of  the  blessings  which  we 
have  enjoyed  under  the  practical  operation  of  the  Constitution.  It  has 
been  enjoined  upon  us  not  to  say  what  is  the  cause  that  the  former  days 
were  better  than  these ;  and,  thanks  to  this  Constitution,  we  have  abun- 
dant reason,  with  grateful  acknowledgments,  to  allow  that  these  days, 
with  regard  at  least  to  our  condition  and  prospects,  are  better — far  better 
—than  the  former  days,  whether  of  colonial  dependance,  of  revolutionary 


127 

conflict,  or  of  disunited  and  disuniting  confederation.  With  reference  to 
benefits  and  comforts  enjoyed,  these  are  the  halcyon  days  of  our  exist- 
ence ;  as  we  or  our  children  will  soon  in  sharp  and  bitter  contrast  feel,  it 
we  or  they  should  ever  betray,  renounce,  or  abandon  the  self-evident  prin- 
ciples upon  which  our  Union  Was  formed,  our  Independence  declared,  and 
our  Constitution  established,  by  our  forefathers  of  lormer  days. 

Our  days  of  enjoyment  are  better  than  theirs.  But  our  days  of  enjoy- 
ment are  the  fruits  of  their  days  of  toil — of  danger — of  suffering^— of  lofly 
and  generous  exertion; — and  can  I  choose  but  be  reminded  of  them,  when 
I  see  at  your  side  [General  Morgan  Lewis  was  seated  next  to  the  Presi- 
dent,] and  at  mine,  [Colonel  John  Trumbull,]  relics  of  those  trying  times, 
conspicuous  as  actors  in  the  drama  of  those  days,  and  still  worthy  repre- 
sentatives of  them  ?  And  must  we  not  confess,  that  if  these  are  the  bet- 
ter days  for  enjoyment,  those  were  the  better  days  for  illustrious  action  ? 

There  were  periods,  Mr.  President,  in  the  history  of  ancient  Greece, 
with  which  we  may  trace  a  closely  corresponding  analogy  in  our  own. 
We  must  make  allowances  for  the  difference  of  times  and  circumstances, 
manners,  opinions,  and  passions,  between  ages  so  remote,  and  our  own, 
and  for  the  necessary  varieties  of  fabulous  and  authentic  history.  But  in 
the  ancient  history  of  Greece,  there  were  two  classes  of  events,  and  of 
human  actors  in  the  transactions  of  their  respective  times.  The  first  of 
these  periods  was  in  later  times  usually  denominated  the  heroic  age, 
and  it  acquired  that  appellation  by  'lie  supposed  superiority  of  the  men 
who,  during  that  stage  of  human  civilization,  made  themselves  conspic- 
uous among  their  contemporaries  by  qualities  or  achievements  superior 
to  those  possessed  or  accomplished  by  the  rest.  Those  qualities  and 
achievements  were  themselves  of  two  very  different  kinds;  one  charac- 
terized by  the  exercise  of  physical  force  upon  external  nature  and  upon 
men — the  other  by  the  development  of  moral  and  intellectual  powers. 
The  renown  of  the  hero  was  sometimes  acquired  by  the  extermination  of 
monsters,  such  as  the  Neniean  lion,  or  the  Minotaur,  and  the  destruction 
of  tyrants  and  other  wild  beasts  in  human  form,  and  sometimes  by  al- 
luring mankind  to  congregate  together  in  civil  associations,  and  by  found- 
ing institutions  of  government  to  last  through  long  successions  of  time. 
The  fame  of  heroism  was  very  rarely  attained  by  the  same  person  for 
successful  energy  in  both  these  courses  of  action;  yet  was  it  not  entirely 
without  example,  and  Plutarch  has  recorded,  in  the  life  of  Theseus,  one 
personage  equally  celebrated  for  both  kinds  of  heroism,  by  ridding  the 
earth  of  monsters,  and  by  laying  the  foundations  of  the  political  consti- 
tution of  Athens. 

May  we  not  award  the  same  meed  of  glory  to  our  own  Washington  7 
As  the  commander-in-chief  of  our  armies  from  the  beginning  to  the 
close  of  the  War  of  Independence,  he  sustained  the  cause  of  his  country 
in  the  rough  encounter  or  physical  force — exterminated  the  monster — he 
destroyed  not  the  person,  but  the  power  of  the  tyrant,  and  then  retiring 
from  the  ardent  gaze  of  an  admiring  world  to  the  obscurity  of  rural  sol- 
itude and  domestic  privacy,  reissued  from  it  again  at  the  call  of  his  coun- 
try in  her  utmost  need,  to  preside  at  the  formation  of  the  people's  Con- 
stitution, and  to  breathe  into  it  the  breath  of  life,  by  an  administration 
shaping  its  character  for  the  duration  of  ages,  as  the  man  of  mature  life 
is  formed  by  the  education  of  the  child. 

It  was  a  common  opinion  of  the  ancient  Greeks  of  the  later  times,  that 
they  had  degenerated  from  the  physical  powers  of  their  forefathers  in  the 
heroic  age.  One  of  the  heroes  of  the  Iliad  is  represented  in  that  poem, 
while  engaged  in  mortal  combat  with  his  enemy,  as  lifting  and  hurling 
at  him  a  rock  of  such  weight,  that  the  poet  declares,  twelve  men  of  his 
own  time  would  not  be  able  to  raise  it  from  the  ground.  In  his  second 
qualification  of  heroism,  that  which  properly  belongs  to  the  cultivation  of 


123 

the  mind,  and  the  formation  of  government,  hare  we  not  too  much  reason 
to  inquire  whether  the  parallel  of  diminished  power  is  not  applicable  to 
the  progress  of  our  own  history  ?  If  it  he  so,  we  have  at  least  the  con- 
solation that  we  diminish  only  in  one  of  the  scales  of  heroism;  for  when 
I  reflect  upon  the  achievements  of  our  most  recent  conflict  with  the 
British  Lion ;  and  when  I  see  at  this  table  the  representatives  of  our 
present  army  and  navy  [General  Scott  and  Captain  Claxton  were  at  the 
table]  I  am  sure  every  heart  in  this  hall  will  respond  to  the  declaration 
which  rises  from  the  heart  to  the  lips.  No!  in  the  prowess  of  the  arm, 
and  the  valour  of  the  soul,  we  have  not  degenerated  from  the  energy  of 
our  forefathers. 

But  it  was  also  an  opinion  of  antiquity  that  heroic  achievement  was 
not  of  itself  sufficient  for  the  attainment  of  glory,  but  that  it  required  the 
assistance  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts  for  its  illustration.  There  was, 
says  the  Roman  master  of  the  lyre,  Horace,  many  a  hero  before  the  days 
of  Agamemnon  :  but  they  and  their  mighty  deeds  have  all  perished,  be- 
cause they  had  no  poet  to  immortalize  them  in  song. 

But  if  the  heroic  age  of  our  revolutionary  history  has  not  yet  been  cel- 
ebrated in  poetry  with  a  dignity  suitable  to  the  grandeur  of  the  subject, 
the  sister  art  of  painting  has  not  been  equally  neglectful  of  her  duty. 
My  old  and  venerable  friend  at  my  side,  [Col.  Trumbull,]  as  you  have 
all  seen,  has  given  a  second  life  to  the  most  affecting  and  grandest  scenes 
of  the  Revolutionary  war,  in  which  he  was  himself  in  the  prime  of  life 
a  distinguished  actor.  In  traversing  the  seas,  his  soul  was  still  untravel- 
led,  and  the  enthusiasm  for  his  art  never  quenched  the  fire  of  his  patriot- 
ism, even  when  it  consigned  him  to  a  British  prison.  The  merit  of  his 
paintings  has  stood  and  will  stand  the  test  of  time.  But  the  conception 
of  the  design,  the  choice  of  the  subjects,  the  perseverance  of  purpose, 
and  the  fidelity  of  execution,  exhibiting  to  posterity  striking  resemblances 
from  the  life  of  the  principal  actors  in  those  scenes  which  will  expand 
m  the  memory  of  mankind,  as  the  wheels  of  time  roll  round,  all  these 
will  be  better  appreciated  in  another  hundred  years  than  they  have  been, 
or  yet  are.  And  yet,  even  now,  who  is  there  with  an  American  heart  in 
his  bosom,  who  can  cast  his  eye  upon  tnese  martyrs  to  their  country's 
cause,  upon  that  self-devotion  sanctified  by  the  sacrifices  of  life,  of  War- 
ren at  Bunker's  Hill,  and  of  Montgomery  before  the  walls  of  Quebec — 
who  can  pass  through  the  Rotunda  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and 
not  find  his  eyes  involuntarily  drawn  upon  the  living  triumphs  of  Sara- 
toga, and  of  Yorktown?  upon  that  Declaration  of  Independence  which 
forms  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  ?  upon  that  scene  of 
still  loftier  sublimity,  if  possible,  the  surrender  by  Washington  of  his 
commission  to  the  Congress  of  Annapolis  ?  who  can  now  turn  his  eye 
upon  these  visions  of  his  country's  glory,  without  feeling  that  the  artist 
has  spread  a  fresh  blaze  of  splendour  over  those  scenes  ?  for  every  eye 
that  beholds  them  identifies  the  immortality  of  his  own  name  with  the 
imperishable  honours  of  his  country. 

Sir,  I  will  detain  the  company  no  longer,  but  conclude  with  asking 
your  permission  to  give  in  return  for  the  toast  with  which  they  have  been 
pleased  to  honour  me, 

11  The  heroic  age  of  American  history." 

4.  The  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  and  the  Thirtieth  of  April,  1789— The  corner-stone 
and  coping  of  a  glorious  edifice,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  present  and  future  gener- 
ations to  preserve  free  from  desecration. 

5.  The  Union  of  the  States— The  cement  of  national  independence :  its  ingredients 
— patriotism,  justice,  and  liberality. 

6.  "The  Unity  of  Gorernment"—  As  Washington  understood  it:  "The  support  of 
tranauility  at  home,  and  of  peace  abroad— of  our  safety— of  our  prosperity— of  that 
very  liberty  which  we  so  highly  prize." 


129 

T.  The  President  of  the  United  States. 

8.  The  Constitution— The  country  has  flourished  under  its  protection :  May  it  with 
filial  gratitude  cherish  and  sustain  it  in  all  its  original  strength  and  purity. 

9.  The  Congress  of  1789— It  gave  the  first  practical  construction  to  the  Constitu- 
tion :  May  its  Successors  emulate  its  profound  sagacity  and  devoted  patriotism. 

10.  The  Federal  Judiciary— May  its  members  always  bear  in  mind  that  they  ar« 
•uccessors  to  Jay,  Ellsworth,  aii<*  Marshall. 

The  Vice  President.  Mr.  Philip  Hone,  expressed  his  thanks  to  the 
President  for  having  called  upon  him  to  perform  the  agreeable  duty  of  an- 
nouncing the  eleventh  regular  toast. 

1  am  satisfied,  (he  said,)  in  paying  my  humble  tribute  of  respect  to  the 
brave  man,  on  whose  patriotic  devotion  to  the  services  of  the  country  re- 
liance can  at  all  times  be  placed,  and  whose  duties  have  been  so  faithfully 
performed,  under  the  disadvantages  of  an  extended  sphere  of  action,  with 
frequently  incompetent  means  ;  but  I  am  warmed  into  admiration  of  the 
gallant  band,  and  feel  sensible  of  the  obligation,  which  as  citizens  we  owe 
them  for  the  defence  of  our  political  rights,  and  the  protection  of  our  per- 
sonal privileges,  when  I  see  before  me  the  noble  relics  of  the  army  of  the 
Revolution,  mingling  in  pleasant  communion  with  the  gallant  spirits  of 
more  recent  warfare ;  when  I  perceive  you,  sir,  supported  on  one  the  side  by 
a  veteran,  the  former  aide  of  the  father  of  the  country,  to  whose  patriotic 
services  allusion  has  been  made  by  the  eloquent  orator  of  the  day,  (  him- 
self deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution,)  and  the  venerable 
gentleman,  who,  fifty  years  ago,  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  admired  then,  as 
he  is  respected  now.  commanded  the  escort  of  Washington  on  the  memor- 
able occasion  which  we  are  now  employed  in  celebrating;  and  on  the, 
other,  by  the  gallant  officer  to  whose  more  recent  services  the  country 
stands  deeply  indebted,  and  is  willing  to  make  grateful  acknowledgment, 
Two  generations  of  patriots,  touching,  as  it  were,  upon  each  other,  and 
rejoicing  together.  Sires,  who  sat  a  noble  example  in  the  arduous  strug- 
gle for  national  independence,  and  a  worthy  son,  who  has  faithfully  fol- 
lowed their  example,  and  emulated  their  virtue. 

In  alluding  to  the  distinguished  officer  who  now  commands  the  military 
section  of  which  the  state  of  New  York  forms  a  part,  I  avail  myself  with 
pleasure  of  the  opportunity  on  the  present  occasion,  (  which  his  recent 
refusal  to  accept  the  hospitality  of  our  city  denied  to  myself,  or  some  other 
more  competent  of  my  fellow-citizens,)  to  pay  a  willing  tribute  of  applause 
to  his  unwearied  exertion  in  defending  the  honour,  and  preserving  the 
peace  of  the  country. 

In  performing  this  duty,  however,  I  fear  I  may  be  led,  notwithstanding 
the  protestations  which  have  been  so  frequently  made  in  the  course  of  this 
day's  proceedings,  of  attachment  to  the  federal  principle  of  inviolable 
union  amongst  the  several  states,  to  dispute  the  claim  of  the  patriotic 
state  of  Virginia  to  the  honour  of  his  paternity,  or  at  least  to  insist  upon 
an  equal  participation.  A  Virginian  by  birth,  he  has  been  brought  up 411 
the  slate  of  New  York.  It  was  here  that  his  maiden  sword  was  first 
drawn  in  the  defence  of  his  country,  here  the  laurels  were  gathered  which 
first  graced  his  youthful  brow,  and  here  his  military  character  was  formed, 
and  his  tactics  brought  into  successful  operation. 

General  Scott's  sphere  of  action  has  been  singularly  extensive.  Called 
upon  at  an  early  period  of  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  when  from  un- 
toward oircum>tances,  (of  which  perhaps  a  want  of  proper  preparation 
was  one  of  the  most  prevailing,)  darkness  overspread  our  beloved  land,  and 
patriots  began  to  tremble,  he  was  one  of  those  noble  spirit*,  whose  glorious 
privilege  it  was  to  "  pluck  up  drowning  honour  by  the  lock-."  Young,  ar- 
dent, and  chivalric,  he  rushed  at  the  head  of  his  untried  battalions  into  the 
fearful  contest  with  the  chivalry  of  England  ;  fearless  of  danger  himself, 
he  taught  his  countrymen  that  the  conquerors  of  Europe  might  be  success- 

17 


130 

fully  opposed  by  American  valour.  The  circumstances  of  the  time  com- 
ing in  aid  of  his  own  prowess,  gained  tor  him  a  military  reputation  which, 
in  most  cases,  it  is  the  labour  of  a  whole  life  to  acquire.  And  on  the  Ni* 
agara  frontier,  his  'good  sword  '  carved  out  for  him  a  title  to  the  conspicu- 
ous place  which  we  are  all  willing  to  award  him  in  the  proud  array  of 
American  heroes. 

Subsequently  to  the  peace  with  England,  he  has  been  steadily  and  ac- 
tively engaged  in  the  duties  of  his  profession,  combining  the  fruits  of  his 
experience  with  the  results  of  his  studies  in  the  art  of  war,  into  a  system 
of  tactics  for  the  government  of  the  army,  and  applying  his  knowledge  to 
the  defence  of  the  exposed  points  within  the  compass  of  his  command,  the 
government  has  on  all  occasions  acknowledged  the  value  of  his  services. 

When  the  hostile  movements  of  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  North 
Western  frontier,  demanded  prompt  and  efficient  action,  General  Scott 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  sent  against  them.  And  on 
this  occasion  his  bravery  and  skill  are  not  more  entitled  to  praise,  than  the 
humanity  he  displayed  toward  his  dispirited  soldiers  suffering  under 
the  dreadful  effects  of  the  pestilence  which  raged  in  their  ranks. 

At  a  later  period  he  has  been  engaged  with  eminent  success  in  impor- 
tant duties  of  a  nature  somewhat  foreign  to  his  profession  ;  by  skilful  and 
judicious  measures  he  succeeded  m  carrying  out  the  design  of  the  govern- 
ment in  the  peaceful  removal  of  the  Cherokees  to  the  place  of  their  allot- 
ted abode,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  sudden  termination  of 
his  command  in  Florida,  alone  prevented  a  more  favorable  result  of  the 
disastrous  warfare  which  has  so  long  desolated  that  fair  portion  of  our 
national  domain. 

On  the  return  of  General  Scott  from  the  south,  the  reprehensible  inter- 
ference of  some  of  our  citizens  on  the  northern  frontier  in  the  unnappy  re- 
volt of  the  adjoining  province  of  Canada,  calling  for  the  interposition  of  the 
government,  he  was  sent  to  enforce  obedience  to  the  laws,  and  by  the 
weight  of  his  character,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  early  achievements,  he 
soon  succeeded,  with  the  aid  of  his  gallant  coadjutor  Colonel  Worth,  in 
preserving  the  neutrality  of  the  country. 

Hardly  had  this  important  duty  been  accomplished,  when,  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  late  alarming  collision  between  the  authorities  of  the  state 
of  Maine,  and  the  British  province  of  New  Brunswick,  this  warrior,  trans- 
formed into  the  more  benignant  charactcrof  a  peace-maker,  was  employed 
once  more  to  allay  the  strife  of  offended  pride,  and  avert  the  consequences  of 
irresponsible  hostility.  Here  again  a  judicious  course  of  dignified  firmness, 
tempered  by  courteous  forbearance,  produced  a  result  calculated  to  quiet  the 
apprehensions  of  the  timid,  and  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  aggrieved. 

In  the  discharge  of  all  these  multifarious  services,  General  Scott  has 
been  unremittingly  and  laboriously  engaged,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
and  is  well  entitled  to  count  upon  the  approbation  of  his  government,  and 
the  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

I  have  to  apologize,  Mr.  President,  to  the  distinguished  individual,  the 
subject  of  these  imperfect  remarks,  but  to  the  company  no  apology  will  be 
thought  necessary,  for  I  am  persuaded  the  sentiments  I  have  ventured  to 
express  are  those  of  all  who  hear  me.  As  an  American,  proud  of  the  well- 
earned  fame  of  one  of  her  favorite  sons,  and  as  a  citizen  of  the  state  which 
was  so  deeply  interested  in  some  of  his  latest  negociations,  I  could  not 
have  said  less,  and  as  an  old  friend,  exrited  by  the  recollection  of  many 
pleasant  instances  of  social  intercourse,  I  dared  not  trust  myself  to  say  more. 

I  proceed  to  discharge  the  agreeable  duty  assigned  to  me  by  announ- 
cing the  llth  toast. 

11.  The  Army — Our  ancestors  owed  to  its  valour  the  establishment  of  their  inde- 
pendence :  the  present  generation  is  indebted  to  its  pawouc  esertious  for  the 


131 

Major  General  Scott  responded  to  this  toast  in  the  following  terms:— 
Touched  with  the  high  compliment  paid  by  this  distinguished  company 
to  that  arm  of  tne  national  defence  to  which  I  have  the  honour  to  belong, 
I  offer  you,  gentlemen,  the  return  of  its  grateful  acknowledgments.    If 

"In  peace,  there's  nothing  so  becomes  a  man, 

Aa  modest  stillness  and  humility  ; — 

But  when  the  blast  of  war  blows  in  our  ears, 

Then  lend  the  eye  a  terrible  aspect — 

Hold  hard  the  breath,  and  bend  up  every  spirit 
To  his  full  height"— 

the  army  fulfils  all  the  conditions  of  good  citizens  and  good  soldiers. 
The  school-master  has  been  abroad  in  its  ranks,  and  thanks  to  the 
West  Point  academy,  our  younger  officers,  when  in  the  bosom  of  society, 
are  besi  known  by  their  modest  bearing — their  ready  obedience  to  law,  to 
the  habits  and  feelings  of  their  country. 

Undei  the  other  circumstance — that  of  active  service,  I  need  but  to  allude 
to  the  triumphs  of  what  has  partially  been  termed — the  second  War  of  In- 
dependents. History  has  occupied  herself  with  those  deeds,  and  in  one 
stream  of  eloquent  praise,  has  mingled  the  glories  of  the  navy  and  army. 

More  recently,  our  twelve  or  fourteen  regiments  have  not  been  idle,  and 
if  they  have  won  but  few  bloody  victories,  they  at  least  have  marched  in 
triumph  through  every  forest,  hammock,  swamp,  and  prairie  of  the  fron- 
tiers— 

11  Where  beasts  with  man  divided  empire  claim, 
And  the  brown  Indian  inaik»  with  murderous  aim." 

In  the  Black  Hawk  campaign,  none  of  those  difficulties,  nor  the  dread 
cholera,  long  delayed  the  coward  course,  and  the  enemy,  overcome  by 
perseverance  and  valour,  were  in  the  end  taught  the  high  Christian  lesson 
of  justice  blended  with  mercy. 

At  Charleston,  when  the  gallant  but  too  sensitive  Carolinians  had,  by 
evils  imaginary  or  real,  or  both,  been  brought  almost  to  disunion,  the  offi- 
cers and  men  of  the  navy  and  army  on  duty  in  that  harbour,  laboured  by 
meekness  and  kind  offices— in  one  instance,  saving  that  beautiful  city 
from  general  conflagration — to  assuage  the  angry  feelings  which  had  been 
excited,  and  thus  kept  the  way  open  for  that  masterly  movement  in  Con- 
gress which  restored  the  noble  state  to  the  eager  embraces  of  her  sisters 
of  the  Union. 

The  Flotida  war  ensued  and  continues.  This  has  been  a  deep  afflic- 
tion to  the  country,  and  yet  a  greater  one  to  the  regiments  employed-^ 
which,  throughout,  have  displayed  every  effort  of  heroic  perseverance  and 
hardy  endurance.  It  was  my  fortune  to  witness  many  of  the  difficulties 
and  distresses  of  that  war,  during  the  twenty-three  days  in  the  field 
which  were  allowed  me.  We  then  only  succeeded  in  removing  about 
four  hundred  Seminoles,  and  suffered,  for  a  time,  the  censures  of  the 
kasty.  But  as  applause  had  never  spoiled  our  gallant  troops,  so  neither 
did  condemnation  change  their  noble  character,  and  all  remained,  to 
country  and  government — 

"  As  true  as  the  dial  to  the  sun, 
Although  it  be  not  snone  upon." 

For  the  last  six  months  a  handful  of  tne  army  has  been  incessantly 
employed  on  the  Canadian  frontiers,  in  maintaining  the  supremacy  of  the 
laws  and  the  national  faith,  pledged  by  treaty  to  a  friendly  power.  Here 
aijain  our  officers  and  men  have,  without  exception,  done  their  duty. 
\V  herever  they  have  been  able  to  appear,  success  has  attended  their  ef- 
forts, and  under  Providence,  but  for  those  efforts,  the  United  States,  in  all 


132 

probability,  would,  ere  this,  have  been  at  war  with  a  great  and  kindred 
people. 

I  will  but  briefly  allude  to  one  other  service  recently  performed  by  our 
army — the  removal,  a  distance  of  nine  hundred  miles,  of  the  numerous 
and  interesting  tribe  of  Cherokee  Indians.  This  service,  in  which  the 
militia  of  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  and  Alabama  bore  a  mer- 
itorious part,  was  accomplished,  not  alone  by  collecting  the  persons  of 
the  Indians,  but  by  the  conquest  of  the  will,  up  to  that  time  indomitable 
and  adverse.  The  means  were  persevering  kindness,  exerted  by  all,  and 
extended  to  all.  I  offer  this  bloodless  triumph,  obtained  by  the  clemency 
of  the  sword,  as  in  some  degree  worthy  of  the  example  of  the  illustrious 
William  Penn,  and  I  am  happy  to  add,  from  a  personal  knowledge  of 
their  late  and  present  countries,  that  the  emigrants  have  every  prospect 
of  being  greatly  and  permanently  benefited  by  the  change. 

I  beg  leave,  gentlemen,  to  offer  this  toast: 

The  surviving  Heroes  and  Worthies  of  the  Revolution — They  are  dearer  and  dearer 
to  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen,  as  their  numbers  diminish. 

12.  The  Navy— Created  by  the  Federal  Government:  its  past  achievements  are 
pledges  that  it  will  not  be  wanting  in  the  hour  of  national  danger. 

Commodore  Claxton  responded  to  this  toast,  but  we  are  unable  to  re- 
port his  remarks. 

13.  Women — The  best  teachers  and  guardians  of  sound  principles. 

A  toast  having  been  offered  complimentary  to  General  Morgan  Lewis, 
who  was  Marshal  of  the  day  at  the  inauguration  on  the  30ih  April.  1789, 
and  was  now  present,  after'filling  in  the  intermediate  period  important 
offices,  among  which  was  that  of  Governour  of  the  state  of  New  York. 

General  Lewis  made  a  handsome  acknowledgment,  and  gave  the  fol- 
lowing sentiment: — 

Our  Country — Her  progressive  prosperity  from  the  epoch  we  this  day  celebrate,  af- 
fords the  best  comment  on  her  form  of  government  and  its  general  administration. 

By  President  Duer: 

Massachusetts — The  nursing  mother  of  the  Hampdens  and  Sidneys  of  the  heroic 
age  of  America  :  This  day  has  proved  that  she  had  not  lost  her  fecundity  in  the  sec- 
ond generation. 

The  Hon.  Judge  Davis,  of  Boston,  responded  in  an  animated  manner, 
and  concluded  by  offering  the  following  sentiment : 

The  spirit  of  American  social  polity— Onward,  ever  onward,  more  majorum,  in 
the  march  of  improvement,  and  advancement  of  human  happiness. 

Mr  Hone,  alluding  to  the  enthusiasm  with  which  Washington  was 
received  in  New  Jersey,  when  on  his  journey  from  Mount  Vernon  to 
this  city,  to  assume  the  office  of  President,  and  especially  complimenting 
the  patriotic  matrons  of  that  slate,  called  up  Governour  Pennington, 
who  spoke  as  follows : 

He  said  that  he  took  the  occasion,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  his  State, 
not  only  to  thank  the  gentleman  for  his  complimentary  remarks  respect- 
ing New  Jersey  and  the  part  she  had  taken  in  the  great  cause  of  achiev- 
ing the  independence  of  the  country,  but  to  thank  also  this  company  for 
the  hearty  manner  in  which  those  sentiments  had  been  received.  Hav- 
ing been  on  the  spot  on  which  many  of  the  most  interesting  and  trying 
scenes  took  place,  her  citizens  had  been  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  hard- 
ships and  privations  of  the  war.  We  boast,  that  it  was  upon  our  soil  the 
tide  of  war  was  changed.  After  retreating  through  the  state  with  his 
patriot  band,  borne  down  by  every  calamity,  in  the  face  of  a  numerous 
and  well-appointed  British  soldiery,  Washington,  at  Trenton,  by  a  single 
battle,  gave  victory  to  our  arms,  recruited  the  spirits  and  courage  of  his 
troops,  and  revived  the  hopes  of  the  country.  It  was  no  wonder,  as  had 
been  alluded  to  in  the  course  of  the  day  by  the  venerable  gentleman, 
[Mr.  Adams,]  that  General  Washington  was  deeply  affected  at  the  in- 


133 

scription  on  the  triumphal  arch  erected  to  receive  him  when,  on  his  way 
to  take  upon  himself  the  office  of  first  President  of  the  United  States  : 
"  The  defender  of  the  mothers  will  he  the  protector  of  their  daughters." 
That  was  the  very  ground  on  which  the  faie  of  our  mothers  was  decided. 
These  mothers  were  indeed  defended  by  Washington,  but  ii  should  be 
said  aUo  that  they  defended  themselves.  Many  are  the  instances  of 
their  devotion  to  the  sacred  cause. 

Governor  P.  here  alluded  to  several  instances  of  individual  heroism 
and  determination  in  that  state,  and  closed  with  a  firm  persuasion  that 
the  same  spirit  which  burned  there  in  1776,  had  been  transmitted  to  their 
children,  and  would  always  promptly  respond  to  the  call  of  their  com- 
mon country.  Alluding  to  the  recent  difficulties  which  threatened  to  dis- 
turb the  quiet  of  the  nation,  he  said  he  spoke  the  common  sentiment  of 
the  people  in  declaring  that  they  desired  peace  with  all  the  world,  and 
that  they  fell  under  peculiar  obligations  to  a  gentleman  now  present, 
[General  Scott.]  for  the  vigorous  and  important  services  he  had  rendered 
his  country  on  mat  occasion.  After  adverting  to  the  pleasure  all  had  de- 
rived from  the  review  of  the  scenes  of  the  revolution  which  they  had 
heard  that  day,  ho  offered  the  following  sentiment : — 

The  Recollection  of  former  time* — Every  day  they  become  dearer  to  all  true- 
hearted  Americans. 

The  Hon.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  of  New  Jersey,  being  called  upon, 
spoke  at  considerable  length,  with  great  eloquence  and  effect,  and  con- 
cluded by  giving  the  following  toast: 

The  Judiciary  of  the  United  State*—  The  honest  offspring  of  the  Constitution  :  aha 
baa  nourished  her  mother  wuh  all  a  daugh  ler's  lo ve.and  more  than  a  daugh  ter's  devotion. 

By  Thomaa  Fecsendtn,  Raq. : 

Connecticut  a.«  ahe  now  is :  true  to  the  principles,  the  feelings,  and  the  blood  of  Con- 
necticut of  the  Revolution. 

By  Hon.  Thomas  Day,  of  Hartford  : 

The  study  of  Jurisprudence  as  a  subject  and  a  tource  of  history. 

George  Folsom,  Esq.,  of  this  city,  being  called  upon  by  the  President, 
remarked  that  this  was  a  proud  day  lor  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
on  which  so  many  respected  citizens  from  our  sister  states,  had  assembled 
to  unite  with  us  in  the  commemoration  of  this  great  anniversary. 

Among  them  he  was  glad  to  see  an  able  representation  from  the  most 
northern  member  of  the  Union,  whose  geographical  position  caused  her  to 
lead,  like  the  star  that  adorned  her  escutcheon,  in  the  constellation  of 
states.  Mr.  F.  then  alluded  to  the  recent  border  difficulties,  and  said  that 
Maine  had  not  only  proved  true  to  herself,  but  to  the  great  principles  of 
our  government  which  had  been  so  happily  illustrated  to-day.  Maine  had 
ever  been  jealous  of  her  political  rights,  and  her  citizens  never  hesitated 
to  assert  and  vindicate  them  at  whatever  hazard.  At  a  very  early  period 
of  he.  aistory,  the  people  of  that  remote  colony  manifested  the  same  spirit 
of  resistance  to  usurpation  and  aggression,  that  had  of  late  animated  as  one 
>ulatk 


man  her  entire  population.  He  alluded  to  the  attempts  that  were  made  by 
the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1652,  to  extend  her  jurisdiction  over 
the  inhabitants  of  Maine,  which  met  an  open  and  manly  resistance  from 
the  civil  authorities  and  the  people  of  the  province. 

But,  said  Mr.  F.,  there  is  a  gentleman  present  whose  labours  in  explor- 
ing and  illustrating  her  annals  have  given  him  a  high  character  among 
the  historical  writers  of  our  country,  [Mr.  Willis,  of  Portland,]  who  can 
belter  speak  for  his  own  state;  and  he  would  conclude  by  offering  the  fol- 
lowing sentiment: — 

The  State  of  Maine— Ever  prompt  to  resent  the  slightest  infringement  upon  the 
honour  of  her  government,  and  to  vindicate  the  integrity  of  her  territory,  yet  acknowl- 
edging with  equal  promptitude  the  sacred  character  of  her  obligations  to  the  American 
Ui 


134 

William  Willis,  Esq.,  of  Portland,  a.delegate  from  the  Maine  Histori- 
cal Society,  rose  to  tender  to  the  Society  his  sincere  thanks  for  the  com- 
plimentary manner  in  which  they  had  just  noticed  the  state  to  which  he 
had  the  honour  to  belong.  He  was  aware,  he  said,  that  Maine,  at  this 
particular  period,  did  not  stand  in  very  good  odour,  from  the  excitement 
which  recent  events  upon  ics  border  "had  produced;  but  he  begged  to 
assure  the  gentlemen  present,  thai  Maine  was  as  unwilling  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  Union  as  any  of  her  sister  states  ;  that  she  had  been  forced 
into  the  position  in  which  she  stood,  not  from  any  desire  of  bringing  her- 
self into  notice,  or  setting  herself  up  against  the  interest  and  welfare  of 
the  Union,  but  from  a  solemn  sense  of  duty  she  owed  to  her  own  charac- 
ter and  rights.  She  was  not  contending  for  a  few  acres  of  territory,  but 
for  a  great  principle.  She  was  resisting  an  encroachment  upon  her  soil 
and  jurisdiction,  and  it  mattered  not  whether  it  was  for  one  acre  or  one 
million  acres — she  would  not  yield  it  upon  compulsion,  or  for  any  threat 
of  any  power. 

He  believed  that  the  claim  of  Maine  to  the  whole  territory  in  dispute 
was  as  clearly  established  by  argument  as  any  case  was  ever  done,  and 
that  if  any  man  would  impartially  examine  it,  he  would  he  satisfied  as  to 
the  perfect  demonstration  of  that  side  of  the  question.  No  impartial  jury, 
in  a  court  of  justice,  would  hesitate,  on  the  same  state  of  facts,  to  return 
a  verdict  in  favour  of  Maine. 

He  asked  gentlemen  of  New  York  to  consider  what  their  feelings 
would  be  if  a  border  nation  should  set  up  a  claim  to  a  portion  of  their 
frontier  county  of  Niagara,  or  of  Oswego,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  ad- 
ditional value  to  the  foreign  territory,  by  public  improvements;  would 
they  stop  to  consider  the  value  of  the  land  thus  claimed — to  go  into  tne 
valuation  of  dollars  and  cents  on  the  subject?  No,  their  public  spirit 
would  spurn  such  a  consideration,  and  the  Union  would  shake  to  its 
centre  with  their  indignant  rebuke.  The  claim  to  the  disputed  territory 
in  Maine  is  no  better  founded  than  would  be  such  a  one  as  he  supposed. 
He  therefore  invoked  the  patriotism  and  public  spirit  of  the  people  of 
New  York  to  sustain  the  great  principle  for  which  Maine  was  contend- 
ing, and  not  censure  her,  as  if  rashly  wishing  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
country. 

Mr.  W.  then  compared  the  situation  of  Maine  now  with  that  of  fifty 
years  ago  ;  having  then  no  place  in  the  Union  as  an  independent  state,  but 
one  member  of  Congress,  as  a  district  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  population 
of  only  90.000.  Now  she  has  eight  members  in  the  lower  house  of  Con- 
gress, a  population  of  half  a  million,  is  next  to  New  York  in  coasting 
tonnage,  and  the  third  in  aggregate  tonnage. 

He  then  adverted  to  some  resemblances  in  the  early  history  of  New 
York  and  Maine.  The  same  year,  he  observed,  just  two  hundred  and 
thirty  years  ago  the  present  year,  which  beheld  the  adventurous  Hudson 
sailing  up  thi?  beautiful  bay,  in  the  little  bark  the  Half  Moon,  under  the 
Dutch  flag,  likewise  witnessed  the  first  attempt  to  colonize  Maine,  by  a 
spirited  company,  who  formed  a  settlement  on  the  Kennebec  river. 
Both  attempts  then  failed,  but  were  afterward  renewed,  with  what 
success  we  all  may  see.  When  he  considered  what  two  hundred  and 
thirty  years  had  produced,  and  especially  the  very  rapid  progress  of 
the  last  fifty  years,  his  mind  could  set  no  limit  to  the  future  greatness 
of  this  country.  The  prophetic  visions  of  the  most  sanguine  would  fail  of 
the  reality.  Much,  however,  depended  upon  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  and  the  liberal  institutions  of  our  land;  and  in  this  connexion  he 
wou.'d  propose  as  a  sentiment — 

The  next  Fifty  Years1  Jubilee  of  the  New  York  Historioal  Society— May  it  find 
our  national  banner  continuing  to  float  over  an  undivided  republic,  and  our  motto 
still  be,  "  One  country,  one  constitution,  one  destiny." 


135 


By  George  Gibbs,  Esq. « 

The  State  qf  mode  Island— One  of  the  last  to  adopt  the  constitution,  she  will  b« 
the  last  to  desert  its  principles. 

John  Rowland,  Esq.,  President  of  the  R.  I.  Historical  Society,  res- 
ponded in  the  following  terms: 

The  citizens  of  our  several  states  are  united  by  stronger  bonds  than 
those  engrossed  on  parchment.  The  place  of  present  residence,  in  many 
instances,  may  not  describe  the  home  of  the  individual;  yet,  in  a  larger 
view,  we  cannot  be  said  to  be  separate  from  our  friends  and  connexions 
while  we  are  within  the  limits  of  the  union. 

The  first  instance  in  history  in  which  Rhode  Island  and  New  York 
became  connected,  took  place  in  1665,  when  Thomas  Willett  was  ap- 
pointed mayor  of  this  city.  He  afterward  returned  to  Rhode  Island, 
where  his  monument  now  exists. 

To  thousands  of  other  ties  of  union,  the  Antiquarian  and  Historical 
Societies  will  necessarily  add,  in  promoting  the  common  object  rn  which 
they  are  engaged,  and  which  this  day's  celebration  points  to  as  the 
brightest  page  in  American  history. 

In  connecting  the  past  with  the  present,  I  offer  this  sentiment : 

The  Memory  of  Thomas  Willett,  the  first  Mayor  of  New  York. 

By  Rev.  Dr.  Wainwright : 

History,  which  record*,  inspires  also  to  noble  deeds. 

Mr.  Grenville  Mellen,  being  called  upon,  recited  the  following  ode,  composed  for  th« 
occasion. 

THE  TRUE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 

BY    GRENVILLE    MELLEN. 


The  light  that  time  pour*  round  a  land 

A  sacred  tight  may  be, 
But  leads  not  to  a  great  command 

Like  that  which  crowns  the  Free  I 
And  holy  (hat  unfaded  light, 

Winch  linger*  with  the  dead; 
But  then  the  beams,  how  ptttinf  bright 

That  Are  the  path  we  tread! 
Then  tell  me  nut  or  years  of  old, 

Of  ancient  heart  and  clime ; 
Ourai*  the  land  and  age  of  gold, 

And  ours  the  hallowed  lime  ! 
The  jewelled  crown  and  sceptre 

Of  Greece  have  passed  away, 
And  none  of  all  who  wept  her 

Could  hid  her  splendour  stay. 
The  world  has  shaken  with  the  tread 

Of  iron-sandaled  crime — 
And  fast,  o'ervhadowing  all  the  dead, 

The  conqueror  stalked  sublime . 
Then  ask  I  not  for  crown  and  plume 

To  nod  above  my  land : 
The  victor'*  footsteps  point  to  doom — 

Graves  open  round  his  hand  ! 
The  memory  of  the  monarch  Man 

We  gather  now  to  sing. 
Who,  when  Coin  nbias  years  began 

Their  Iujht  on  time  to  fling, 
To  Freedom'*  altar-place  came  up 

Before  his  land  to  bow, 
And  lift  to  Goo  her  golden  cup, 

With  sacnfii-e  and  vow- 
Is  not  that  meaner  memory 

Which  lingers  with  a  crown  ! 
'Tis  (he  liffht  that  links  man  with  the  sky ; 

The  light  he  lays  not  down ! 
Rome  !  with  thy  pillared  palap es 

Ami  sculptured  heroes,  all 
Snatched  in  their  warm  triumphal  days 

To  Art's  hwrh  festival- 
Rome  !  with  thy  giant  sons  of  power, 

\Vh<>«e  pathway  wan  on  thrones, 
Who  built  their  kingdoms  of  an  hour 

Oa  jec  uubuTMXl  bw**- 


I  would  not  have  my  land  like  thee, 

80  lofty— yet  *o  told ! 
Be  her'a  a  lowlier  majesty, 

lu  yet  a  nobler  mould. 
Thy  marbles— works  of  wonder  I 

In  thy  victorious  day*, 
Whose  white  lips  seemed  to  sunder 

Before  the  astonished  gaze  I 
When  statue  glared  on  statue  there, 

The  living  on  the  dead, 
And  were  a*  silent  pilgrims  were 

Before  some  sainted  head — 
O,  not  for  faultless  marbles  yet 

Would  1  the  light  for  ego, 
That  beams  when  other  lights  have  set. 

And  art  herself  lies  low ! 
I  ask  not  for  the  chisel's  boast— 

A  Pantheon's  cloud  of  glory 
Bathing  in  Heaven's  noon-tide  the  host 

Of  those  who  swell  her  story  ! 
Though  these  proud  works  of  magic  hamt, 

Fame's  rolling  trump  shall  fill, 
The  best  of  all  those  peerless  band* 

Is  puUeless  marble  still. 
And  though  no  classic  madness  hero 

With  quick  transforming  eye, 
Bid  beauty  from  the  block  appear 

Till  love  stand  doubting  by— 
I  care  not— for  a  brighter  wreath 

Than  round  the  Parian  brows 
Of  those  whose  sculpture  seemed  to  breathe, 

Shall  wait  our  holier  vows. 
And  ours  a  holier  hope  shall  be 

Than  consecrated  oust, 
Some  loitier  mean  of  memory 

To  snatch  us  from  the  dust. 
And  ours  a  sterner  art  than  this 

Shall  fix  our  image  here — 
The  spirit's  mould  of  loveliness 

A  nobler  Belvidere ! 
His  spirit  that  in  th  jnd»-r  spake 

In  beautiful  command 
To  lis"ning  world>.  like  snn  shall  break 

VpduubueU  UD  every  law! : 


136 


af  this  ocean  shout  go  when      p  ™>*t  « 

Kails  with  its  hol    morn  ?°°d  S°  down» 


Then  let  them  bind  with  bloomless  flower*  Anrj  when  the  sculptured  marble  falls. 

The  busts  and  urns  of  old;  And  art  goes  in  to  die 

A  fairer  heritage  be  ours—  Our  forms  shall  live  in  holier  halls— 

A  sacrifice  less  cold  !  The  Pantheon  of  the  sky  ! 

By  Hickson  W.  Field,  Esq.  : 

Washington—  Who  never  accepted  office  but  for  the  welfare  of  his  country  and 
never  appointed  an  officer  but  from  a  belief  in  his  worth. 

By  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  : 

or™  &*£&"<&££"  the  charapion  of  nationai  tad"»ndence<  *»  *» 

By  John  Jay.  Esq.  : 

nn7I:C  phil™'hr°Pi*t*  °f  fa  ^e-Who,  true  to  the  spirit  of  their  fathers,  inculcate, 
not  as  an  aba  ract  trueisrn,  but  as  a  rule  of  duty,  the  principles  of  universal  liberty  ; 
and  who,  while  they  battle  for  the  rights  of  others,  will  manfully  maintain  their  own 
By  William  L.  Stone,  Esq  • 

..Ka^fe^^^ 
By  George  B.  Rapelye,  Esq.  : 

SF"  "««-"'•*•  of  ««•  ^inthe  firs,  Con- 
By  Jotham  Smith,  Esq.  : 

%^£&2  or  modern'  «•"  w«  M  •  m°re  p* 

By  Dr.  John  W.  Francis  : 

only  added  to  their  number  and  their 


By  Samuel  Ward,  Jr.  Esq.  : 

The,  State  of  New  York—Ever  faithful  to  the  Union. 

By  David  Colden,  Esq.  : 

The  memory  of  Philip  Schuyler,  the  soldier  and  the  patriot. 

By  Dr.  Henry  M.  Francis  : 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment. 


ODE.-  By  WILLAM  CUTTER. 
S^^  Mount  Eba^  the  Article. 

Is  our  eternal  creed.  Round  Genzim's  fair  hill, 

Drawn  from  the  liturgy  of  heaven  where  first  our  Union  rose, 

In  Freedom's  hour  of  need.  to  P/ace  and  ?lojry  clustered  still, 


inaHunrat.on   was  disclosed  by  the  withdrawal  of  a  curtain  at  the  upper  end   of  the 
,and  produced  a  bnllant  effect     The  figures  of  Washington  and  Chancellor  Liv? 
m£«%    —  s^n  in  the  balcony,  the  one  laying  his  hand  u'pon  the  b..0k,  while  the 
other  administered  the  oath  of  office,  in  the  presence  of  a  v*st  concourse  of  people 
fnr.W"1"^^,83  jxtremely  wdl  execu'ed,  and  taking  the  company  bv  surprise,  drew 
WrtJ^?1!!^1111^1"^     ?'he   hal!  W8S  also  decorated  w'.h  copies  of  Stuart 
«.*?'  first.five'  Presidents  of  the  United  States-copies  pained  by  S.uart 
The  festivities  were  continued  to  a  hue  hour,  and  brought  to  a  brilliant  close 
il^  10Dg  W  be  rewenibered  iu  lhe  annals  of  our  country's 


O33 


